In the movie Open Range, Boss (Robert Duval) and Charlie (Kevin Costner) rough up some bad guys. And just to humiliate them, Boss orders them to...
Drop ‘Em! Belts or No Belts?
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True West Blog
6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Wyatt Earp Edition
People used to play a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The rules: you had to be able to find unusual connections to the actor in six or...
John Selman Pt. III
About the same time John Selman shot and killed Bass Outlaw John Wesley Hardin rode into El Paso and hung up his shingle as a lawyer. The...
John Selman Pt. II
In El Paso Selman spent most of his time in the city’s gambling dens and an occasional job as a constable. In August, 1893 the 54-year-old Selman...
John Selman Pt. I
The question came up the other day, was John Selman a lawman, bad guy or a back-shooter? The answer is: All of the above. John Henry Selman,...
The Life of a Fur Trapper
There was no shortage of ways to go to the “go under” in the Far West during the heyday of the Mountain Men. In 1856 Antoine Robidoux could account...
The Rendezvous
Like gold dust in the mining camps, beaver fur was the medium of exchange in the mountains. In 1825 William Ashley came up with an idea unique to...
Jim Bridger’s Tall Tales
Once there was a mountain man who couldn't write his name, Yet he deserves the front row seat in History's Hall of Fame, He forgot more about the...
The Free Trappers
The Free Trapper was a uniquely American innovation in the fur trade and were known as the “Aristocrats” of the trade. They could go where they...
Are You for Beer?
A Westerns staple is the saloon, where men went to meet, gamble, and drink. For the most part, the movie booze was fake—tea or colored water stood...
The Reckless Breed
Long before the “ordinary” white men braved the arduous task of crossing into the “Great American Desert” and beyond. Long before latter day...
Sibley Supplies the Wrong Side
Henry Hopkins Sibley gained fame as a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. But one of his inventions was widely used by the other side....