In early 1858, Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers commanded the first military vessel up the Colorado River. He...

What is your opinion of John Wesley Hardin? Bill Calloway Wilmington, Delaware I view John Wesley Hardin as a product of his times—and those were...

In 1961, Michael Curtiz directed his final film—the John Wayne vehicle The Comancheros. As Westerns go, it’s okay even though it’s far from...

After his surrender in 1886, the Apache leader Geronimo became quite in demand at expositions, parades and fairs and he quickly caught on to the...

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...

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...

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...

You’ve all heard of Oklahoma’s storied “Three Guardsmen,” Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman and Chris Madsen, but there was another deputy marshal that...

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...

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...

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...

Lots of people get credit for settling the west—trappers, explorers, miners, the military, ranchers, homesteaders, even gunslingers—but religious...