What were water troughs made of? Cathy Haustein Pella, Iowa More often than not, the water troughs were made of wood, but depending on location and...
What were water troughs made of?
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Articles
Were knives more expensive than firearms in the Old West?
Were knives more expensive than firearms in the Old West? Mike Scott Saugus, Massachusetts They could be more expensive. Folks on the frontier could...
Jay Dusard’s Favorite Reads
Artist, writer, horseman, musician, teacher, Jay Dusard, who lives in his beloved borderland country near Douglas, Arizona, is known internationally...
Talking Dutch
I had shaken Elmore Leonard’s hand three times, twice at book signings and once on a movie set, years before I wrote him a letter in 2008 and asked...
Hamming it Up
In the mid-1800s, the word sandwich was almost synonymous with ham. If you ordered a sandwich, it was likely ham. The other two options were tongue...
One Killer Burger
Charles Bent was killed on January 19, 1847. Billy the Kid got shot dead on July 14, 1881. Pat Garrett bought the farm on February 29, 1908. But the...
The West’s Most Western Town
In Arizona’s high noon showdown over the brand the “West’s Most Western Town,” Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane and Cave Creek Mayor Vincent Francia faced...
Curtis’s Big Dream
Hers is a simple, worn face; mouth and eyes downturned—in sadness, in waiting, in remembrance? That humble portrait of an old woman—Princess...
Hard Living: Elmore Leonard’s West
Life was hard in Elmore Leonard’s West. Living and dying in “Leonard’s Arizona Territory” was somewhere between Heaven and Hell. His characters...
The Lawman & the Land Rush
In the spring of 1889, the U.S. government faced a monumental task—opening the Unassigned Lands, nearly two million acres in modern-day central...
How do we know the tintype photo is really of Billy the Kid?
How do we know the tintype photo is really of Billy the Kid? Frank Cutler Sodus, New York “It is definitely Billy the Kid,” says Robert G. McCubbin,...
Did some cowboys dig up a corpse and pour whiskey down his throat?
Did some cowboys dig up a corpse and pour whiskey down his throat? Marina Bender Mesa, Arizona That bizarre event began at the Wigwam Saloon in...