Back in 1848, the year it was founded, the California town was called “Dry Diggins” because of the gold mining efforts nearby. That lasted about a...
Dry Diggins
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Articles
Seeking Freedom Out West
With its wonderful title, Shirley Ann Wilson Moore’s Sweet Freedom’s Plains: African Americans on the Overland Trails, 1841–1869 (University of...
The Brief And Violent Life Of Cherokee Bill
Crawford Goldsby, aka "Cherokee Bill", was born February 8th, 1876 at Fort Concho, Texas. He was the son of George Goldsby, a sergeant in the 10th...
James Bailey Of The Barnum and Bailey Circus
James Bailey is probably the least known of the founders of the soon to close Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. An orphan born in...
A Mule For Sylvia Durando
Comanche Station opens with an 11-minute montage setup featuring hardly any dialogue. A loner, Jefferson Cody (played by Randolph Scott), is moving...
Why Does Arizona Have That Diagonal Boundary Line?
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican War in 1848 the boundary line between the United States and Mexico in what would become...
Why Did Pioneers Wear Dusters?
Why did pioneers wear dusters? Bill Dunn High River, Alberta, Canada Full-length canvas or linen dusters were pretty common, starting in the...
The Chisholm Trail
150 Years of Trail History The Texas cattle-trailing industry lasted only fifty years. From Texas statehood in 1846 until 1897, Texas drovers...
Yes, They Were Romantic
If history does not offer evidence to support the notion that Billy the Kid and Paulita Maxwell had a relationship, it also does not offer evidence...
To The Last Man
In the aftermath, of Arizona’s Tewksbury-Graham War Tom Graham, the last of the fighting Graham’s got married and settled down in Tempe. But feuds...
North To Alaska!
As early as 1852, New York Sen. William Seward saw the possibilities of the frozen land far to the northwest of the United States. Well, maybe not...
Pleasant Valley War
Feuds usually occurred in remote places and fighting flared when the law was unavailable, unable or unwilling to intervene. Conflicts usually...