From the days of the dime novels to the cowboys of the silver screen, Arizona has been the setting for numerous classic Western stories and films....
Arizona Rides Tall in the Saddle
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True West Blog
Graham’s Failed Escape
Tom Graham thought he’d gotten away from the death and destruction of Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War. He moved to Tempe to live in peace—or so he...
The Trapper’s Clothing
The trapper’s clothes were homemade and usually made from durable buckskin. During meals he rubbed his greasy hands over his leathers, something in...
He Died in Style
Marion Hedgepeth was a train robber and outlaw with style. “The Debonair Bandit” usually wore a suit, cravat, bowler hat and had neatly polished...
The Arizona Rangers vs. Criminals
Arizona has had three different Arizona Ranger law enforcement groups. The first Ranger group was created in 1860, the second in 1882 and the third...
The Fall Creek Massacre
The Fall Creek Massacre was all too typical—seven whites murdering nine Indians in Indiana in 1824, for no apparent reason. The outcome set a...
John L. Sullivan Visits Tombstone
On Saturday, March 23, 1884 the undefeated Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World John L. Sullivan, traveling by rail on a coast to coast...
Roy Gardner, Last of the Lone Wolf Bandits
It’s been said the Lone Wolf Bandit stole more than $350,000 but perhaps he should be better-remembered as the “Houdini of Escape Artists.”...
The Hairy One Hangs
Sonoran bandito, Augustine Chacon, alias Peluda (“The Hairy One”), robbed and killed in Arizona, and then hid out in the Sierra Madres until his...
The Amazing Air Rifle of Meriwether Lewis
The “Corps of Discovery,” led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark was one of the most incredible journeys in history. It numbered less than forty...
Vaquero: Master Horsemen of the Southwest
The American cowboy owes so much to the master horsemen—Mexican vaqueros—who were rounding up cattle on horseback several hundreds of years before...
Tombstone’s Schieffelin Hall
It was June 1881 when Al Schieffelin—brother of Tombstone founder Ed Schieffelin—opened the theater and opera house that carried their last name....