True West Blog
The Dime Novelists

The Dime Novelists

Dime novelists fed the voracious public appetite for daring exploits and hero-making. Much of the violent image of the West was due to pulp westerns...

read more
Deadwood Recreation

Deadwood Recreation

Every season in Deadwood is full of legendary fun. Outdoor recreation lovers will strike it rich in Deadwood, which is surrounded by the natural...

read more
The Social Bandits

The Social Bandits

By the latter part of the nineteenth century train robberies had become big business among western outlaws. During one period trains were being...

read more
Salting a Gold Mine

Salting a Gold Mine

Mining Camp author Brete Harte wrote: "The ways of a man with a maid are strange, but tame, when compared to a man with a mine when buying or...

read more
Those Early California Gold Camps

Those Early California Gold Camps

Those early California gold camps with their boardwalks and muddy streets, false-front buildings and tent dwellings were as vivacious at their names...

read more
The Chiricahua Cattle Company

The Chiricahua Cattle Company

One of the most revered names in the history of the cattle industry in Arizona is the Chiricahua Cattle Company or, as it was known by its brand,...

read more
Truth vs. The Legend

Truth vs. The Legend

Who was California outlaw Joaquin Murrieta? Bandit Joaquin Murrieta (picture) is a legend, especially in the Central California region where he rode...

read more
The Death of a Legend

The Death of a Legend

Rangers kill bandit Joaquin Murrieta. On July 25, 1853, “California Rangers” led by Captain Harry Love (picture) encountered a group of Mexican men...

read more
The Hucksters

The Hucksters

The lawless Arizona Territory attracted the wide gamut of frontier con men ranging from card sharks to stock swindlers out to prove P.T. Barnum was...

read more