August 21, 1869 Lake’s Hippo-olympiad and Mammoth Circus takes a swing through southwestern rural Missouri, landing in Granby. After the night’s...
A Bad Customer
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Bob Boze Bell
Cowboy Hat Etiquette
Before we get to the Boy’s Club Rules, Lynda A. Sánchez, a third-generation rancher, weighs in with her thoughts on how women have made manners...
The Encounter that Dooms Wild Bill
September 1865 George Ward Nichols and Gen. Thomas Church Haskell Smith, the inspector general of the District of Southwest Missouri, arrive in...
“¡No Tire en la Casa!”
May 10, 1871 Tracking a party of rough hombres, Alameda County Sheriff Harry Morse and San Jose Deputy Theodore “Sam” Winchell approach a ranch...
In Search of the Real Curly Bill
Amazingly, historians know so little about the most famous cow-boy in Cochise County history—“Curly Bill” Brocius. In a journal entry written in...
The Dish Washer
In 1878 a young boy named Henry McCarty washed dishes in the kitchen at the Hotel de Luna on the edge of the Camp Grant military reservation near...
Monsoon Madness
This is the time of year when we Zonies get more than a little crazy from the heat. We’ve had it up to here with the 24/7 oven blasts and we’re all...
Will C. Barnes Makes Quite A Name for Himself
Private Will Croft Barnes received the Medal of Honor for “bravery in action” when he made a daring ride from Fort Apache (which was under siege by...
A Frontier Wonder Woman
Paul Andrew Hutton has written up the true adventures of a frontier Wonder Woman who somehow—for the life of me, I don’t know why—has escaped big...
Dressed To Kill
A mere two weeks have passed since the 5th Cavalry learned of George Custer’s devastating defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Some 350...
The Crazy Legend of Red Ghost
As the story goes, a military commander lashed a camel-shy soldier to the back of a camel and sent him off to learn how to ride. Depending on who is...
Trapped!
Patricio Valenzuela, the hacendado (ranch owner) of the Agua Fria hacienda eight miles east of Cucurpe in Sonora, Mexico, is alerted by his vaqueros...