Ohio State Senator William O. Collins, a proponent of war-funding after the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, took a stronger stand for the Union...
Reveille on the Overland Trail
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Articles
The Life of a Fur Trapper
There was no shortage of ways to go to the “go under” in the Far West during the heyday of the Mountain Men. In 1856 Antoine Robidoux could account...
Twain Redux
Robert Coover tackles the impossible in Huck Out West (W.W. Norton, $26.95), a sequel to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that puts...
The Rendezvous
Like gold dust in the mining camps, beaver fur was the medium of exchange in the mountains. In 1825 William Ashley came up with an idea unique to...
What History Has Taught Me: Margaret Kraisinger
Margaret Kraisinger augments her husband Gary’s maps and field research with text about Texas’s cattle trails. Their third book is The...
I’m Just Joshin’ Ya
There are a number of terms for playing a joke on somebody but one of the most interesting word origins for such schemes is called “joshing.” Its...
Mystery Man Identified
The mystery of an “unidentified” man wearing a gun belt similar to the belt worn by “Buckskin Frank” Leslie has been solved. Among the Arizona...
Jim Beckwourth Leads Out of Fear
Jim Beckwourth is best known for his mountain man exploits, but he was also an author, a saloon keeper, a gambler, a rancher and more. But he...
DVD Review: Duel At Diablo
Director Ralph Nelson followed Requiem for a Heavyweight with this complex, unflinching Marvin H. Albert story in 1966. Ex-scout Remsberg (James...
Leigh Brackett’s Words with John Wayne’s Voice
Leigh Brackett was one of director Howard Hawks’ favorite screen writers. They first worked together in 1946 on the Humphrey Bogart film noir The...
Jim Bridger’s Tall Tales
Once there was a mountain man who couldn't write his name, Yet he deserves the front row seat in History's Hall of Fame, He forgot more about the...
Who Shot J.W.?
With cold, unblinking eyes, a well-dressed gentleman stared at J.W. Jarrott as he walked with his wife, Mollie, down the main street of Lubbock,...