The 1800s are notable for its fascination with exhibits and strange things. And it didn't lack promoters or hucksters who would take anyone's...
Strange Amusements
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Jana Bommersbach
A Bad Call on the Telephone
Sometimes when you're the biggest king on the hill, it's hard to see new kids climbing the slopes, and that's exactly what happened to Western Union...
No Way to Stage a Hanging
One place nobody wanted to be on April 25, 1901, was the front rows of spectators at the New Mexico hanging of Black Jack Ketchum. Ketchum was a...
A Most Appropriate Name
Rose was the perfect name for the Grand Canyon's first official botanist, because self-taught Rose Collom blossomed when exposed to the state's...
Rescuing Silver Strike History
Talk about the mother lode. Imagine trying to preserve hundreds of projects in a 14,000-acre district—not only one of the nation’s largest historic...
Spring is in the Air
What do Tombstone, the Pony Express, an “anti-dude” club and Jesse James have in common? All made history during the month of April. For Tombstone,...
Chicken as Tender as a Maiden’s Heart
If you asked miners what they ate as they dug for the silver and gold and copper of Arizona Territory, they'd shrug and say: “The usual 3-B's:...
Who Really “Tamed” The West?
History has lots of candidates, from trappers to explorers to miners, military men, ranchers, homesteaders, even gunslingers. But you seldom hear...
The Luckiest Woman in America
THE LUCKIEST WOMAN IN AMERICA: That title has to go to a woman born a slave in a Mississippi plantation on August 15, 1818, and freed “forever” by a...
Love The Hair, Sweetie
Just like clothes, hairstyles have their day. Just look at any old picture—even one of yourself—and laugh at how your hair has changed over your...
Colorful Phrases of the West
Americans have lots of colorful phrases and sayings to specify a point—but often, although we know the point, we don't know beans about the origins...
An Exercise in Monotony
An Exercise in Monotony. That's how food in Arizona Territory military camps is described in the “Arizona Territorial Cookbook, 1864-1912” by Daphne...