When Bill Cody introduced his “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” in 1883 a featured presentation was Custer’s Last Stand. The historic battle had occurred...
Buck Taylor: The Original King of the Cowboys
read more
True West Blog
Arbuckles Coffee
Long before Matt Dillon, Chester and Miss Kitty wrapped their hands around a warm cup, coffee was a staple on the frontier. In 1849 while surveying...
Buckskin Frank Leslie Murdered Wife Mollie
Mollie Edwards was a prostitute in southeast Arizona when she met Buckskin Frank Leslie. In 1887, Mollie moved in with Frank at his ranch, about 19...
Whigs and Democrats Go to Blows for Marion
The Tutts were Whigs and the Everetts were Democrats, and both wanted to control Marion County in northern Arkansas in 1844. It quickly escalated...
Arkansas Tom
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory provided some of the West’s wildest history including one of its deadliest gunfights. The battle occurred on...
Davis Waite Demolishes a Corrupt Denver in 1893
When Davis Waite took office of Colorado governor in January 1893, the first order of business: drain the swamp that was the corrupt political...
Cowboys? No Turkeyboys
There were a number of ways a young man could become a cattleman. He could hire out as a cowboy, gather and brand mavericks until he had enough to...
Territorial Sheriffs
Arizona was the last of the refuge of the drifting lawmen and desperadoes of the Old West. Its wild country, lack of roads, and proximity to the...
The Dish Washer
In 1878 a young boy named Henry McCarty washed dishes in the kitchen at the Hotel de Luna on the edge of the Camp Grant military reservation near...
Arizona Cattle Company and the A1 Brand
The arrival of Mormon colonists from Utah in 1876 heralded the first permanent Anglo-American settlements in northern Arizona. Even though cattle...
The Many Faces of the Late Sam Shepard
The late playwright Sam Shepard is well known to Western fans for the laconic cowboy figures he played on the big screen. Frank James in The...
Monsoon Madness
This is the time of year when we Zonies get more than a little crazy from the heat. We’ve had it up to here with the 24/7 oven blasts and we’re all...