In El Paso Selman spent most of his time in the city’s gambling dens and an occasional job as a constable. In August, 1893 the 54-year-old Selman...
John Selman Pt. II
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Articles
John Selman Pt. I
The question came up the other day, was John Selman a lawman, bad guy or a back-shooter? The answer is: All of the above. John Henry Selman,...
Cowboys and Conductors
The northern Arizona town of Williams got off to a fast start after its founding in 1881. With the arrival of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad...
10 Treasured Firearms
I was recently asked which of my personal guns are my favorites. Of course there are many that I enjoy having for different reasons. Some I admire...
Western Events for November 2017
Western roundup of events where you can experience the Old West this November. Adventure Shade Hardy Ride Morristown, AZ, October 28: This carriage...
Cowboy Hat Etiquette
Before we get to the Boy’s Club Rules, Lynda A. Sánchez, a third-generation rancher, weighs in with her thoughts on how women have made manners...
How did Pioneers Preserve Corpses?
How did pioneers preserve corpses? George Townsend — Bella Vista, Arkansas. Pioneers preserved bodies in winter ice and snow, when available, or...
Reveille on the Overland Trail
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...
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...