Charlie Russell came to Montana in 1880 at the age of sixteen where he hired out on a sheep ranch. He later went to work for a former trapper Jake...
Charlie Russell, “Waiting for a Chinook”
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Articles
Amnesty for George Coe
George Coe fought as a Regulator during the Lincoln County War, and got something his pal Billy the Kid didn’t—amnesty for his actions. Coe was one...
Hand Over the Ice Cream
In 1850, a new ice cream saloon in San Francisco, California, greeted patrons with the aromas of vanilla and lemon. The Alta California described...
Legends of the Old West Visit the Big Apple
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Old West icons were frequent visitors to New York City. Their association with urban life and...
The Good ‘Ol Cash Stash
Jesse West and Joe Allen are best known for hiring Jim Miller to kill Gus Bobbitt in Ada, OK in 1909. The three, along with B.B. Burrell, were...
Cowboy Lingo, Tall Tales and Bald-faced Lies
A few years ago I went with “Warrior Tours” sponsored by Wrangler Jeans to the Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan with a group of champion rodeo cowboys...
Forewarned & Forearmed
March 11, 1884 Fresh off the train from Austin, Texas, newly minted drinking pards Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, the acting sheriff for Uvalde...
Them Ain’t Cowboys; Them’s Ostrichboys
One of the most unusual yet lucrative types of ranching came into fashion around 1900 in Arizona’s Salt River Valley. With a head- ‘em-up, move...
A Pistol For Dragoons
With the adoption of the U.S. Dragoons on March 5, 1833, the U.S. Army found itself woefully lacking in pistols for a mounted unit. Handguns at that...
Let’s Hang This “Damned Nuisance”
History tells us that in the Old West, the rope was an instrument of both justice and injustice—sometimes they hanged the right guy for the right...
Deadly Enemies in Trinidad
John Allen and “Cockeyed” Frank Loving were two sporting men in Trinidad, Colorado in the spring of 1882. Both were noted shootists—and on April...
A Colonel’s Secret Weapon
As the small train of wagons drew within sight of Fort Phil Kearny, the weary travelers rejoiced. “I could have clapped my hands for joy,” one wrote...