Even folks who know little about the old west know about Will Rogers, the cowboy philosopher, entertainer, writer who seemed to know just what to...
Happy Belated, Will Rogers
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Articles
The Doctor Doolittle of Rattlesnakes
Arizona prides itself on having an abundance of eccentric. Bill Esenwein had to be somewhere near the top of the list. He was a desert rat, writer...
Old Vaquero Saying
“Para una madre, no hay mal hijo.” (To a mother, a bad son does not exist.) Doesn’t matter if it’s Billy the Kid, John Wesley Hardin, Jesse James or...
Thank You, November
This winter month gives us lots of reasons to celebrate the Old West: from rodeos to women's rights, from Roy Rogers to Annie Oakley, from one of...
Hollywood’s Texas Ranger
Hell or High Water is the sleeper movie hit of the summer; Jeff Bridges’ portrayal of Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton might nab him a second Oscar....
How Fast Could a Stagecoach Travel?
How fast could a stagecoach travel? Mitchell McClure Rayville, Louisiana The speed of stagecoach travel during the Old West era depended on whether...
The Magnificent Robert Vaughn, 1932-2016
Actor Robert Vaughn has died Friday, November 11th at the age of 83. Born in New York City on November 22, 1932, Vaughn enjoyed a lengthy career in...
Boone Helm
Boone Helm was a bad man through and through. Born in Kentucky in 1828, he moved West for opportunity and mayhem. He reportedly murdered several men...
What Led to the O.K. Corral Gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona Territory?
What led to the O.K. Corral gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona Territory? Axel Doling Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany The lead-up is pretty...
Portrait of a Mountain Man
Albert Bierstadt legitimized the Western American landscape as a serious subject, first bringing to the East and the world the majestic...
In Search of Cowboy Ground Zero
In the spring of 2013, I traveled to Spain to see if I could locate Cowboy Ground Zero. My theory was, if I could find the source of the Spanish...
The Hashknife
The arrival of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1881 opened up the virgin grasslands of northern Arizona to large scale cattle ranching. The...