Wilson Mizner is well known as a playwrite and storyteller. But he was a few other things before that. In 1897, he journeyed to the Klondike Gold...
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
read more
True West Blog
Arizona Territory Born Into Trouble
In 1863, a bill passed the U.S. Senate officially organizing the Arizona Territory, and on February 24, President Abraham Lincoln signed it into...
Whatever Happened to Big Nose Kate?
After Mary Katherine Horony got drunk and falsely implicated Doc the Benson stage robbery on March 15th, 1881 things were pretty much over between...
Tucson, Tubac, Tumacacori, to Hell
In 1861, the U. S. Army was withdrawn from Arizona to fight in the Civil War that raged in the East. The military forts and supplies were burned...
An Inflated Reputation
Sul Ross is renowned in Texas history for his work as a Ranger, Confederate general, Indian fighter, president of what became Texas A&M, and...
The Mysterious Etta Place
The enigmatic Etta, (Ethel) Place is one of the Old West’s most enthralling mysteries. We know from her photo she was a beautiful, intelligent...
A Mixed Legacy
Peter Burnett was an important figure in the early history of Oregon and California. A lawyer, businessman, farmer and speculator, Burnett gained...
After the Long Drive is Done
Trail-driving movies always show the cowboys drawing their pay after reaching Abilene, Dodge City or Wichita and heading for the nearest barber shop...
Kin to the James Boys
Allen Parmer is best known as the brother-in-law of Jesse and Frank James—with some accusations that he also rode the outlaw trail with them. But...
Lieutenant Charles Gatewood and the Johnson County War
In the spring of 1892, members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association created a hit list and then imported twenty-two rough and ready Texans to...
A Man Alone?
The story goes that Wyatt Earp single-handedly protected Michael O’Rourke—aka Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce—from a Tombstone lynch mob in January 1881....
The Lawman on the Lam
Ben Sippy was Tombstone marshal for only eight months—November 1880 thru June 1881. But he made his mark, and not in a good way. Sippy—who’d...