When one imagines pristine Arizona’s dry, desolate, sun-baked deserts in the 1850s it’s difficult to picture any of it as being a utopian Shangri La...
Arizona’s Shangri La
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True West Blog
Andy Devine: Hollywood’s Sidekick Star
Andy Devine was a big man not just in size but also in heart and soul. Probably the last time anyone called him “Little Andy” was when he was about...
Infamous Deadwood: Wild Bill Hickok Sponsored by Deadwood, South Dakota
Wild Bill is probably the most famous Deadwood resident, even though he was only in town a few short weeks. James Butler Hickok arrived in Deadwood,...
A Hole in His Head
The story begins after he was shot in the head… David Lunt’s shooting is one of the more interesting ones in the West. In January 1877, he was...
The Many Lives of a Deadwood Theater
Jack Langrishe’s establishment was used for more than entertainment. Jack Langrishe was “just” an actor and producer—yet he played a vital role in...
Bullock and the National Park
The legendary lawman also left a mark as a lawmaker. Seth Bullock is best known for his time as a lawman in Deadwood, in the days when the gold rush...
Firefighters: A Hot Time in the Old Town
Fires were always a menacing threat to frontier towns. The boomtowns of Prescott, Bisbee, Jerome, and Tombstone all burned to the ground several...
Education in Early Arizona
The three R’s, readin’, writin’, and ’rithmetic, like many other cultural conveniences, were late arriving on the Arizona frontier. The first...
Frontier Dentistry
Oftentimes I hear folks say that they wish they'd lived "in the good old days. Usually, I reply, “The good old days really weren’t all that good.”...
On the Road Again
John Wesley Hardin makes a big splash in Kansas. June 1, 1871. An 18-year-old John Wesley Hardin arrives in Abilene, KS at the end of a cattle...
A Deal Gone Bad
The Earp-Clanton dispute deepens. June 2, 1881. Wyatt Earp approaches Cowboy Ike Clanton with a proposal. If Clanton will betray the men who tried...
Evans and Sontag: Finis
The final shootout in central California. June 11-12, 1893. A posse takes on train robbers John Sontag and Chris Evans at Stone Corral, an abandoned...