Peter Burnett was an important figure in the early history of Oregon and California. A lawyer, businessman, farmer and speculator, Burnett gained...
A Mixed Legacy
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True West Blog
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...
The Other Schieffelin
Al Schieffelin is not nearly as well-known as his older brother Ed—the man who founded Tombstone. But Al made his own mark on “The Town Too Tough...
Jack Swilling: Arizona’s Forrest Gump
Jack Swilling might well be called Arizona’s “Forrest Gump” because seems to have had a penchant for being involved in a number of historic events...
Jeff Kidder
The dawning of the 20th century brought little improvement to the notorious reputation Arizona had earned during the tumultuous years of outlawry...
Low Slung Guns: A Hollywood Invention?
A popular misconception among some Old West re-enactors and wardrobe experts is that everyone wore their gunbelts high on their waists and that the...
Was Butch Cassidy a Master Train Robber?
Butch Cassidy’s folk hero image actually exceeded his outlawry. In 1898, a Chicago newspaper referred to him as the “King of the Bandits,” and the...
Brother Vs. Brother
Old Schonchin was head chief of the Modoc, and he was responsible for moving the tribe to a reservation in southern Oregon in the mid-1860s. He...