The first white men to venture “across the wide Missouri” were awed by the breathtaking sight of the majestic Rocky Mountains that loomed on the...
Mountain Men
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True West Blog
John Wesley Hardin’s Little Brother
John Wesley Hardin’s youngest brother Gip—like most of the men in the family—led a strange life. He was a Texas school teacher in 1896 when he...
On the Move
John Wesley Hardin’s older brother Joe had a hard time finding a final resting place. After Wes killed a Texas lawman in May 1874, vigilantes took...
The Best of Intentions
Helen Hunt Jackson became interested in the plight of Native Americans in the latter half of the 19th Century. So she wrote Ramona, a melodramatic...
Frontier Editors
Wherever folks settled in the rugged wilds of the West there remained a desire to keep up with what was happening “Back in the States.” Local events...
What Became of the Yuma Territorial Prison After its Closure in 1909?
The Yuma Territorial Prison opened its doors and closed in 1909 it didn’t lie fallow for long. Before becoming one of Arizona favorite state parks...
Natural Disasters in Ancient Times
There were tornadoes, range fires, floods and earthquakes in the ancient times same as today. The Natives didn’t have written languages and their...
The Yuma Territorial Prison
When Arizona was still a young territory, lawbreakers were usually confined in a jail in the sheriff’s office. However, as the population grew in...
From Vendetta Rider to Inmate
Dan Tipton was a friend of Wyatt Earp and a member of the Vendetta Ride that went after the killers of Morgan Earp in 1882. In 1883, he likely was a...
The In-law was an Outlaw
Clint Barkley, alias Bill Bowen, was an in-law of Texas feudists the Horrells. He was arrested in Lampasas, TX in March 1873 for illegally carrying...
He Got Clipped
Ferd Patterson was a sporting man who plied his trade primarily in the Pacific Northwest in the years around the Civil War. He also cultivated a...
Prehistoric Americans and Science
Recently I was asked why prehistoric peoples, those who were here before the arrival of the Europeans, weren’t more accomplished in the field of...