Wyatt Earp, who has become controversial since his fictionalization by television, did serve in both Dodge City and Tombstone as a legally appointed...
Was Wyatt Earp Really a Deputy U.S. Marshal?
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Articles
William Henry Jackson’s West
The great photographer influenced the Western preservation movement and the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. William Henry Jackson...
Man with a Badge
Bass Reeves might be the most famous—and mistakenly identified—black lawman in the West. In recent years there has been an influx of images...
Bass Reeves and Hollywood
The real law-and-order hero’s long and Winding road to cinematic and television fame. Interest was generated in Hollywood on Western lawman Bass...
Top 10 True Western Towns of 2021
Standing Tall Despite the pandemic, American Western towns remain strong and determined to be better than ever in 2021. It’s reassuring to know...
Bill Said He Did. Did He?
Buffalo Bill Cody rode many a famous mile across the West, but did he actually ride for the legendary Pony Express? Near the Pony Express...
Once And For All, Is The Lone Ranger Based on Bass Reeves?
By Art Burton When The Lone Ranger debuted on the radio in Detroit in 1933, racism was at a zenith in the United States. That the story could have...
What History Has Taught Me: L. J. Martin
I thankfully grew up in Bakersfield, in the center of the Oklahoma and Texas of California, Kern County. One hundred miles physically from L.A., but...
Lincoln: Prepare Ye the Way for the Horde
The president paved the way for the great Westward Expansion. On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second...
Shooting Back
Our readers remind us of the variables and vagaries of historic truths, “well-established” facts, headlines and historical photographs. A Case of...
Black and Blue
Some things just have to be said. In this time of renewed racial contention, it is somehow fitting—and timely—that one of the unsung heroes of the...
Wheels to Fortune
Over a century ago gold-crazed miners traded in their sleds for bikes and pedaled their way to their Alaskan bonanzas. In late February, as the days...