Forget Broadway! Some of early theaters’ brightest and most accomplished entertainers performed on stages throughout Arizona. In his book Arizona on...

Abraham Lincoln said precisely the wrong words in 1858, but standing by his famous speech landed him in precisely the right place two years later....

Merlin’s Hide Out came to be when I decided I needed a new pair of gators made from beaver hides. Instead of ordering them on the Internet, I...

It’s common knowledge in the Great Southwest that creeks usually have more water than rivers. The conduct of Arizona’s rivers is as wayward as that...

As anyone can imagine, there wasn't much entertainment in rural America—hard work, sweat and toil, boredom, yes, but entertainment? “This was the...

Presidential campaigns haven’t changed much. Making speeches and shaking hands in various towns and cities is still a part of the game. In 1900,...

Deep within the Dos Cabezas hills lived a feisty miner who spent the last 30 years of his life with Mary Katherine Cummings, better known as “Big...

  Outlaws Harry Tracy (photo) and Dave Merrill were more than partners—they were brothers-in-law, with Tracy marrying Merrill’s sister. They...

Deaf Smith was one of the most celebrated patriots in the Texas fight for independence. His greatest contribution in the war was his skill as a...

There are two theories on how African-American troops stationed in nineteenth century Arizona became known as “Buffalo Soldiers.” Native Americans...

  In June 1863, Montana lawman D.H. Dillingham started thinking that other deputies were involved in a series of robberies. Buck Stinson...

Trading posts began appearing on Arizona Indian reservations in the early 1870s. These isolated stores provided food and other goods in exchange for...