John Franklin Cogburn, nicknamed “Rooster” by his Uncle Page, was my great-grandfather. While he never packed a badge, Franklin was quite familiar...
The Real Rooster Cogburn
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Articles
The Truth Behind True Grit
Fort Smith was once the last bastion of law and order before the wild frontier. In the heyday of Fort Smith, a popular saying went, “There is no law...
Kearney, Nebraska
For Ronnie O’Brien, her connection to Kearney begins in 1842 in Ireland and ends more than a century and a half later in Nebraska. Her husband’s...
True Masterpiece
True Grit is an American masterpiece. The success of the film by Joel and Ethan Coen has surprised pundits and led, yet again, to predictions of the...
The Civil War Turns 150
The Civil War and the American West are forever connected. The Battle of Glorieta Pass occurred in March 1862, but folks re-enact it every May at El...
How Long To Haul
We recently posed the question in our online community; “How long to haul your horse in a single day?” What we got back was more than we...
Ten tips for hauling
Hauling your horse in a trailer should be a good experience for all concerned. By taking several steps to insure his or her comfort, you will have a...
April 2011 Events
A Western roundup of events where you can experience the Old West. Now Through April 2...Scottsdale, AZ, Scottsdale Native Trails: American Indian...
How did John Clum’s first wife die?
How did John Clum’s first wife die? In the movie Tombstone, Morgan Earp tells his brother Wyatt, “They hit Clum’s house too. They shot up his wife.”...
Was the large-loop lever rifle featured in John Wayne Westerns ever used in real life?
John Wayne used the large-loop lever on his rifles in several movies, and TV’s Rifleman used one as early as 1958. Was it ever used in real...
What is the origin of “pistol?”
What is the origin of “pistol?” Shayla Trickey Mesa, Arizona The word comes from the French pistole or pistolet. Some say the French got it from...
Were Gatling guns ever used during the Indian Wars?
I know that Gatling guns were used during the Civil War and Spanish-American War, but were they ever used during the Indian Wars? Mundo Osterberg...