True West Blog Archives

Death of a Hardcase

by Mariah George | Jan 18, 2024

Cullen Baker dies the way he lived life—violently. January 6, 1869. Hardcase Cullen Baker and a pal are killed in Cass County, TX. Either the two...

The County Seat War

by Mark Boardman | Jan 17, 2024

A shootout in Cimarron. January 12, 1889. The Gray County War in Kansas. A group of men from Ingalls--including Bill Tilghman--go to Cimarron. They...

A Good Game Spoiled

by | Jan 17, 2024

The poker game prior to the OK Corral shootout. The night before the Tombstone “Street Fight,” several of the men involved the next...

Let’s Make a Deal

by | Jan 16, 2024

Wyatt Earp’s attempt to placate the Cow-boys falls apart. In 1881, Wells Fargo secretly gave Wyatt Earp a free hand to put an end to stage robberies...

Western Art Week is Buzzing with the Return of The Russell Sponsored by the C.M. Russell Museum

by True West | Jan 16, 2024

Get your bidding paddles ready and save the date, March 14-16, 2024, because The Russell is back! After much anticipation, The Russell (the...

The Power of the Cow-Boys

by | Jan 15, 2024

A group of rustlers ran rampant in Cochise County. Before the Earp brothers arrived in Tombstone in late 1879, the Cow-boys had been rustling...

The Million Dollar Hangover

by | Jan 10, 2024

A rich discovery and the name of a new town. The story goes that prospector Charlie McMillan was a man strongly addicted to ardent spirits. One...

The Rendezvous

by | Jan 9, 2024

The great gatherings of the fur trappers Unique to the American trapping industry was the rendezvous system, dreamed and schemed by William Ashley...

Stubborn as a Mule

by | Jan 8, 2024

How Joe Felmer got even with some thieving Apache. The legends say Joe Felmer was an Army scout at Camp Grant. Some pesky Apaches had been sneaking...