Mama, take this badge off of me I can’t use it anymore It’s getting’ dark, too dark for me to see I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door. —Bob...
The Western Dreams of a Nobel Outlaw
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Articles
Jedidiah Smith
Life in the wilderness took a heavy toll on the health and often the lives of the mountain men. Those hardy trappers, who roamed the Rockies in the...
The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas
Somebody called Ellsworth the “Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas,” and the place had its moments. But its time was brief—and it almost didn’t get to...
Prospector’s Faith
It was in the spring of 1850 when the word of the incredible richness of gold at a place called Downie's Flat swept downstream and sent a crowd of...
Debbie Reynolds’ Film Memorabilia
Film legend Debbie Reynolds—who died on December 28—was not just a consummate entertainer. She was a collector of film memorabilia, including...
Sold Off By Her Father
One of the better known stories circulated about Polly Bemis is that Charlie Bemis, the son of a Connecticut Yankee jeweler, won her in a poker...
Eli Wallach
The late character actor Eli Wallach was offered the role of Tuco in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly because of his work four years earlier as...
Outgunned by a Skunk
By the early 1900s, the law was closing in on outlaws like the Wild Bunch. Modern technology such as telephones was making it easier to track the...
Almost A Western: The Streets of Laredo
Screen icons John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart all appeared together in just one film: 1962’s How the West Was Won, although none of them...
Vision Quest
As current events in North Dakota and South Dakota swirl around pipelines, historic gravesites, life-giving waters, sacred land, natural resources,...
Top 10 True Western Towns of 2017
The West has always been a place for Americans who dream. About a second chance, about riches, about a free and productive life on fertile land with...
What History Has Taught Me: Drew Gomber, History Buff
For 15 years, Drew Gomber led tourists on tours of historic Lincoln and Lincoln County in New Mexico, helping them walk in the footsteps of Billy...