William Wells spent most of his life in New York, yet he had a profound impact on the Old West. In the early 1850s, he was heavily involved in the...
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Articles
A Young Cowboy’s Christmas
Mack Hughes was one of the last of the Hashknife Cowboys. When he hired out for the outfit in the 1920s he didn’t even own a pair of boots. He...
True West Best of the West 2018 Firearms
From its earliest issues 65 years ago, True West has consistently recognized the importance of firearms in taming the American West—covering the...
The Story of a Cattle Drive
Nelson Story was already a wealthy man in 1866. He’d moved to Montana a few years earlier and found gold. He used some of the riches to start...
What is 3-7-77, Associated with the Montana Vigilantes?
What is 3-7-77, associated with the Montana Vigilantes? Dave Quinn Carson City, Nevada This has long been a Western historical puzzle. The Montana...
Christmas in the Pines
The first recorded Christmas in Northern Arizona north of the Gila River took place in 1853 at the foot of the snowy San Francisco Peaks where the...
True West Best of the West 2018 Western Books
In 2013, I started managing and writing the “Western Books” column for True West. In those five years, I have received between 400 and 600 books a...
An Angel and the Train Man
Along with True West’s 65th birthday, this column celebrates a landmark too—my 10th anniversary of exploring the people and groups who are saving...
Swindlers & Bamboozlers
The wild, untamed mountains and barren deserts turned out to contain a bonanza in gold and silver. Wherever there was a rumor and a hole in the...
What Did the Actors Drink When They were Drinking “Beer” on Gunsmoke?
What did the actors drink when they were drinking “beer” on Gunsmoke? Dave Rapoza Olathe, Kansas The Gunsmoke actors actually drank beer, but the...
Training for a Killer
John Heath is best known as the mastermind of the 1883 Bisbee Massacre, an attempted robbery gone bad that resulted in four deaths. He was lynched...
True West Best of the West 2018 Art and Collectibles
When “Old Hosstail” Joe Austell Small founded True West Magazine 65 years ago, in 1953, he could not foresee that his pictorial publication...