The Great Depression was in full bloom and hard times had fallen on the rural communities of Tempe and Mesa, Arizona that Christmas of 1932. It was...
The Man Who Killed Santa Claus
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Articles
Black Bart’s Bad Day
November 3, 1883 It’s a Saturday as the Sonora-Milton stage rattles along, empty, save for the driver. Reason E. McConnell has been on the road for...
A Mapmaker’s Tragic End
In March 1853, Congress appropriated funding for four surveys of potential railroad routes throughout the American West. The surveys constitute one...
Best Of The West: Western Books
When historians review the year 2016 in publishing, will they discover themes in Western history and fiction that reflected the national turmoil and...
Fleming Parker’s Last Request
George Ruffner and Fleming Parker had cowboyed together over on the Agua Fria River in their younger days. As time went by they went their separate...
Crown City’s Old Vistas
Box after box of photos. Day after day. One image more fabulous than the next. Photographer Todd Stands thought he knew a lot about “Coronado...
It’s Hamer Time!
Long vilified as a treacherous lawman, Texas Ranger Frank Hamer survived 52 gunfights, was wounded 23 times in the line of duty and, he was declared...
Gold Fever
A story is told of a farmer in a Midwest American town who heard a circus with an elephant was coming to a nearby town. He wanted to see the...
True West’s Ultimate Historic Travel Guide
“Ocian in view! Oh! The Joy!,” William Clark wrote in his journal on November 7, 1805 as he viewed what he believed was the Pacific Ocean, as the...
Best of the West 2017: Art & Collectibles
In the early stages of his career, William Henry Jackson, his studio borne by a mule, photographed the first views of Yellowstone. He traveled as an...
A Show-Biz Career for Ken Curtis
Actor Ken Curtis is best known for portraying Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke from 1959 to 1975. He also made a mark as a member of director John Ford’s...
Denver’s Unsinkable Hostess
Before she became famous as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown,” after surviving the 1912 sinking of Titanic, Margaret Tobin-Brown arrived in Denver,...