Just how or why John Wayne first came upon the idea of making a movie about the Alamo is possibly the only mystery remaining in a movie that has...
Fifty Years After The Alamo
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Articles
William C. Porter
My favorite book is Michener's Centennial. I like an author who can draw you into history through family lines stretching over decades or, better,...
Western Flair the Duke Would Appreciate
John Wayne had solid ranch connections in Arizona. He and partner Louie Johnson once owned the Red River Ranch, which included more than 14,000...
Grape History on a Sunset Ride
As I sauntered through an open meadow on Romer, a black-and-white Tennessee Walking horse, I thought about the first ranchers who lived in the...
Top 10 Western Museums of 2010
I hadn’t seen lines like this since I tried to get into a bookstore in Dallas, Texas, where actor Jimmy Stewart was autographing copies of his book...
Things We Get Wrong About David Crockett
David Crockett (1786-1836), has a tremendous responsibility. He fills niches in American History, folklore and popular culture. Details of his life...
The Legendary Life & Tragic Death of Sonny Jim
About 1,000 people came to praise the old Indian cowboy, not bury him. They came from far and wide, from California to Oklahoma to Oregon and more,...
Great Guns in the Panhandle
What was once the vast, empty, grassy plains country of West Texas is now the quiet little town of Canyon and the home to the Panhandle-Plains...
The Walls of a Prison Will Never Hold Me
Angola, Louisiana, might not be considered the West to some folks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any roundup get as Western as its prison...
Depression-Era Treasure
In Phoenix, which means rebirth, the realization that history could be found deep beneath the Arizona dirt came when what is now America’s fifth...
Tracking a Vendetta Rider
Most folks know that the violence in Tombstone, Arizona, didn’t end with the Gunfight behind the O.K. Corral in 1881. A number of shootings—several...
As American as Apple Pie
“Before we were out of the mountains, we met a relief train from the Willamette Valley...as flour was being offered at $1.00 per pound, and as we...