It wasn’t long after the first railroads crossed Arizona in the 1880s and many people in the territory had yet to take a ride on an iron horse when...
Cactus Derbies
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Articles
Wilford Brimley’s Cowboy Roots
Wilford Brimley is known to Western fans as a walrus moustached, portly, somewhat curmudgeonly character who usually offers sage advice and a little...
Bleached Bones
Set in the harsh, beautiful Sand Hills of Nebraska at the dawn of the 20th century, Jonis Agee’s The Bones of Paradise (William Morrow, $25.99) is a...
Tombstone’s Hoptown
One of the forgotten parts of Tombstone—shown briefly in the movie Tombstone—was Chinatown. It was also called Hoptown, a slang term indicating one...
John Colter The First Mountain Man
John Colter was a member of the Corps of Discovery that crossed the wide Missouri with Lewis and Clark in 1804-1806. He was considered to be one of...
A Babe on the Battlefield
The horrified woman ran with all her heart through chaotic, thunderous reports of carbines, rifles and pistols that were dwarfed only by the din...
West Texas Paradise
Pecos, Texas, wouldn’t exist if not for the shape of the Pecos River. Near where the town would come to be, the deep, twisting gorge narrowed to...
Bad Bill Longley
Bill Longley born into a strong Christian family, he turned bad during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period has been called one of the West’s...
Emperor of the United States
In 1849, Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England around 1818, arrived in San Francisco, California, from South Africa with a $30,000 inheritance and...
Is Deadwood Dead?
Just over 10 years ago—August 2006—Deadwood ended its run; pretty abruptly. A promised wrap-up movie or two never materialized. But reports indicate...
Tom Fitzpatrick: Trapper, Scout and Indian Agent
One of America's most important frontiersman, scout and guide is also one of the least known. Stories abound about Joe Walker, Kit Carson, Jim...
Singing At The Big Corral
Romaine “Romy” Lowdermilk, the “Father of Dude Ranching in Arizona,” blossomed into one of the West’s greatest early balladeers. Born in Kansas in...