A Smith & Wesson revolver is exhibited at the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau, Alaska.
Purportedly, it belonged to Wyatt Earp, who came through town in June 1900 on the way
to the goldfields of Nome. He either checked the gun at the Red Dog or US marshals
took it from him and it ended up at the bar.
But there’s a problem. On June 27, 1900—the day he was supposedly in Juneau—Earp
was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct in Nome, nearly 1100 miles away. But it’s
a nice story.

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus