What are the odds that an Old West cowboy would get into a gunfight? Mike Franklin Poteet, Texas Not high. Cowboys mostly spent their time “keeping an eye on the cows,” whether it was on the Long Trail to some railhead or on the open range. Real cowboys (as opposed to reel ones) didn’t have time to get into a lot of mischief. They often worked under a stern disciplinarian, whether it was a trail boss or a ranch owner, who didn’t tolerate cussing, fighting or drinking on the job. When

November/December 2010
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
- Trailer Safety
- 1929’s Hell’s Heroes
- Streets of Laredo/Dead Man’s Walk
- The Last of the Mohicans
- What the Cowboy Life Taught Raoul Walsh
- Grand Theft Stagecoach
- Ghost Town Travelogues
- The Cowgirl Way
- In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark
- Four Years in Europe With Buffalo Bill
- Outlaw Tales of Nebraska
- Forts, Fights, and Frontier Sites
More In This Issue
- Wham, Bam, Thank You Uncle Sam!
- Elk City, Oklahoma
- Bob Stinson
- Ranch Riding on Hawaii’s Big Island
- A New-Old Needle Gun
- On the Cheyenne Heritage Trail
- A View of Vasquez
- Cake Was His Last Meal
- Dust, Death and Disability
- Buckles: The Cowboy Calling Card
- Hauser’s Story Finds its Heartbeat
- Why are smaller wheels on the front of stagecoaches and wagons?
- Are the wooden hitching posts in frontier towns pure Hollywood?
- How common were stagecoach robberies in the Old West?
- Did jail cells in Westerns always have a window to an alley?
- Did Old West folks wear sunglasses?
- Did 19th-century U.S. soldiers carry military ID cards?
- What are the odds that an Old West cowboy would get into a gunfight?
- The Truth to Chaco Canyon
- The Seeds of Navajo Soul