In 1852, the month of May started off seeing the birth of Martha Jane Canary, who became Calamity Jane. Fittingly, she shared her birth month with...
Indian with Bow Hits Mark
Shirley Lesure, a retired nurse living in New River, Arizona, had just found out a painting she thought might be worth $100,000 would not even...
Requiem of the Rustlers
Nick Ray stepped outside the cabin into the morning light, looking for Ben Jones and Billy Walker. Seeing no sign of his cabin mates, Ray turned to...
Bud Ledbetter, The Fourth Guardsman
You’ve all heard of Oklahoma’s storied “Three Guardsmen,” Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman and Chris Madsen, but there was another deputy marshal that...
Blazing Pols
As volatile as today’s politics seem, I find it somewhat comforting to know that in the Old West, it was even worse. During the 1871 election season...
Deadwood, South Dakota: Entertaining Guests Since 1876
In 1876, miners looking for gold in the Black Hills came across a mess of dead trees and a gulch full of gold. They staked their claim and Deadwood...
Ruthless Joe Sparrow
Joe Sparrow was scared of Print Olive, a man who had a long string of killings to his credit. And now Print was mad at Sparrow, who couldn’t pay off...
Jesus Went West, Too
Lots of people get credit for settling the west—trappers, explorers, miners, the military, ranchers, homesteaders, even gunslingers—but religious...
The Wind and the Darkness
In the Bible’s Book of Revelation, John the Apostle prophesizes the coming of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death. ...
Show Low vs. a Straight Flush
Two ranchers, Corydon Cooley and Marion Clark, decided the valley they lived in wasn’t big enough for the both of them. They played a card game to...
Brazen Hazen
Larry Hazen (sitting, right in 1885) was one of the great law officers of the 1800s—still, you’ve probably never heard of him. But Adams Express,...
Eating on the Move
It took careful planning to figure out what food to take on a wagon train. Everything to feed a family for months—except game, which hopefully would...