New Mexico is home to many legends: Billy the Kid, the Roswell Alien and a hometown kid whose real name actually happens to be Joe West. This...
Jack Elam (1919-2003)
Jack Elam died October 20, 2003, at his home in Ashland, Oregon, after several years of ill health. He was recently named True West’s Best Western...
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center
“Come along boys and listen to my tale, I’ll tell you of my troubles on the Old Chisholm Trail.” So sang Gene Autry in his tribute to those...
Striking Similarities
It’s fitting that an Olaf C. Seltzer painting of C.M. Russell on his horse Monte appeared in the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction this past year, as the...
Zip Zapped!
August 2, 1895 A mile and a half north of Cainville, Oklahoma, lawman Marion Hildreth and five men surround a homesteader cabin. After eating...
Breaking Out More Shovels
If anyone knows Billy the Kid, it’s the sheriff in the town that claims to hold the outlaw’s grave. Sheriff Gary Graves has ridden the “last ride of...
Did Cole Younger have any children? I ask because a doctor in town comes into my barbershop and claims to be his great-grandson.
Did Cole Younger have any children? I ask because a doctor in town comes into my barbershop and claims to be his great-grandson. Phil Thomas Downers...
When did American cowboys stop wearing Levi jeans?
When did American cowboys stop wearing Levi jeans? B. Bonnes London, England They haven’t all stopped wearing Levis, but the jeans aren’t as popular...
A River Runs Through History
What was Juan de Oñate thinking when he named the Rio Grande in 1598? Great River? Criminy, at some places it’s not even a mediocre ditch. Explorers...
Take No Prisoners
The late November dawn broke cold and foggy. Below the barren Southeastern Colorado plain, some 600 Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians were camped in a...
Arguing with His Characters
John Duncklee is one of a kind, a renaissance Westerner from hat to boots. Whether he’s working as a teacher, author, horse breeder or cattle...
Cassidy Gang Captured Again
Butch Cassidy’s well-known “Fort Worth Five” photograph, which led to the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang’s eventual breakup, was recaptured for the History...