Little was known about the navigability of the Colorado River above Fort Yuma until 1858 when Captain George Johnson took his steamboat, a...
Lieutenant J. C. Ives and his Grand Canyon Adventure
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True West Blog
Nothing Out of the Ordinary
A lawman assesses an infamous execution. April 26, 1901. Train robber Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum is hanged in Clayton, New Mexico Territory. Officials...
Strange Connections
Frank Hamer’s ties to an outlaw family. Frank Hamer has gone down in history as one of the greatest lawmen of all time. But before he became a Texas...
The Legend Begins
The unofficial start to Frank Hamer’s career. Legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer got his law enforcement career started in something of an unusual...
James Stinson: The Man Who Started the Pleasant Valley War
In the fall of 1881, cattleman James Stinson brought some 600 head of cattle into Pleasant Valley and unwittingly branded them with a “T” which...
Denziens of the Wild
In the past, most western movies romanticize sleeping under the stars and the wide, open spaces. How much trouble did they have with all of the...
The Gypsy and the Bear
One day during Tombstone’s boom times, a Gypsy came strolling into town with a bear on a leash. He announced to the gathering crowd that for...
A Gunfight?
A Doc Holliday shootout was just a lot of smoke. Most Old West gunfights were casual, almost comical affairs. Case in point: a saloon in Dallas on...
Switching Sides
Zeke Proctor—outlaw turned lawman. Zeke Proctor was a hard man, living in the Cherokee Nation in the 1870s. He was responsible for several killings....
Flakes that Changed the World
And you can see the gold that started the rush. On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold flakes while constructing Sutter’s Mill near...
Apache May Slaughter
True West reader Shawn Cote writes, “Has it ever been confirmed that Apache May Slaughter's biological father really was the Apache Kid, as...
How did Bob Ford, the killer of Jesse James die?
Soon after Bob Ford shot Jesse James at Jesse’s home In St. Joseph, Missouri public opinion turned against Bob and Charlie Ford. Bob was seen as a...