Do you know the story about a Texas cattle rancher who killed a rustler and tied him to a steer? E. Spradling Via Internet You must be talking about...
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
After famed arms inventor and manufacturer Samuel Colt passed away in 1862, his widow Elizabeth wanted to build a memorial to him and their three...
Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel
Buffalo Bill Cody founded the Irma Hotel in 1902, calling it “just the sweetest hotel that ever was.” Located in Cody, Wyoming, the town that the...
Appaloosa Trading Company
Most folks don’t begin their life’s work at the age of 12. Michael Gibson, owner of Appaloosa Trading Company in Durango, Colorado, isn’t like most...
Hitching Your Wagon to a Star
America turned to its own “camel of the prairie” to expand west—not a humped animal that could withstand the desert, as we normally think of camels,...
The Coming of the Sacred Dog
"The God of the Christians is dead. He was made of rotten wood.” These words, allegedly uttered in his native language by Tewa holy man Popé, marked...
Branded by the Land
For most listeners, the first song is all it takes to hear the truth in this voice. Brenn Hill couldn’t tell a lie if he wanted to. Like the artist...
Hat Tricks
It’s high time we got to talking about hats, that most basic element in a cowboy’s wardrobe, or a cowgirl’s for that matter. Along with Coca-Cola...
Gettin’ Along on the Texas/Chisholm Trail
Jesse Chisholm was no cattleman, and the trail he blazed didn’t enter Texas but stretched from the Red River in present-day Oklahoma to Wichita,...
I Shot the Sheriff (and I Killed a Deputy, Too)
April 1, 1878 After eating breakfast at the Wortley Hotel in Lincoln, New Mexico, Sheriff William Brady walks out on the main street to meet his...
Handcarts and Heartaches
"Brethren and sisters, what I have said, I know to be true.” Levi Savage was a lone voice that hot August morning in 1856 as he graphically warned...
Rough-hewn Character
Midnight. Euless, Texas. John McCord holds forth in Denny’s Restaurant with a tale about the day he and Jack Ballas did a book signing somewhere in...