Perhaps the last thing that a bug-eyed tenderfoot will notice about a cowboy and his horse is the lariat. Yet, in this day of modern convenience,...
Salty John Cox
Howard Bryan, longtime cowboy writer, built this stellar career interviewing some of the most notorious cowboys in New Mexico. One of them was...
Buffalo Bill’s First Scalp for Custer
Cody, Carr, Collins and Townsend could hardly contain themselves. On a hot afternoon at Fort Laramie, Buffalo Bill was his customary dashing and...
Dodge & Burn
“Our Land Marks Gone,”. . . the headline blared in the Globe Live Stock Journal on Tuesday, December 1, 1885. “THE FIRE FIEND WIPES OUT THE BUSINESS...
Aunt Sally
AUNT SALLY—FIRST WOMAN IN THE BLACK HILLS. That’s all it says on her simple, rough wood headboard that now hangs in the Adams Museum in Deadwood. A...
Head’em Up, Move’em Out!
The Santa Fe Railroad, in 1873, ceased construction of its main transcontinental line at Dodge City, Kansas, for three years due to a national...
What is the origin of the stripe down the trouser leg of military uniforms? Also, in the 1880s, soldiers wore dress helmets that resembled those worn in Germany. Why was that?
What is the origin of the stripe down the trouser leg of military uniforms? Also, in the 1880s, soldiers wore dress helmets that resembled those...
Why are sheriff’s badges almost always star-shaped?
Why are sheriff’s badges almost always star-shaped? Jane McKenna Spokane, Washington Primitive societies believed the star possessed magical...
I’m trying to locate a book called Early Spanish Treasure Signs and Symbols, by William Mahan, published in 1966.
I’m trying to locate a book called Early Spanish Treasure Signs and Symbols, by William Mahan, published in 1966. Sam Tunnell East Wenatchee,...
Do you know the term “starve out,” and how widespread is its use?
Do you know the term “starve out,” and how widespread is its use? Nancy Coggeshall Reserve, New Mexico Ramon Adams in Western Words, calls it a...
Can you please tell me what the phrase “I’m your huckleberry” means?
Can you please tell me what the phrase “I’m your huckleberry” means? Keith Wellington Kalkasa, Missouri According to the New Dictionary of...
Why do military men salute?
Why do military men salute? Auston Clements Denver, Colorado Back in the days of chivalry, knights would greet each other with the lifting of the...