Santa Claus sometimes makes his appearances in strange disguises. Once upon a time there was these unemployed two cowboys named Jake and Tuffy. It...
An Uninvited Guest for Christmas
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True West Blog
A Dry Run for Northfield?
Did Jesse James use another holdup as preparation? July 7, 1876. Members of the James-Younger Gang held up a train outside Otterville, Missouri....
The Ill-Fated McDaniel Brothers
Both outlaws; both paid the price. Brothers Tom and Bud McDaniel both rode with the James-Younger Gang. Bud died after a jail break in the summer of...
An Early Celebration
A James-Younger Gang member paid a price for enjoying the loot. The James-Younger Gang got about $30,000 from a train robbery in December 1874. It...
The Unsinkable Maggie Brown
The daughter of Irish immigrants in 1867, Margaret Tobin was born in Hannibal, MO. As a waitress she waited on Mark Twain many times. When she was...
The Dodge City Gang
A gang could mean a gang of outlaws or a group of men who ran together such as gamblers. Some people looked upon gamblers as unsavory characters and...
The Town of Christmas Arizona
In Southwestern Gila County nestled in the remote canyons of the Dripping Springs Mountains, just west of Jerusalem Peak lies what remains of the...
Poker
In so many Wild West movies and stories you see and hear about cowboys playing poker or cards. This raises some questions. What was the most common...
Beer
The water in many areas of the West was so bad it was said the local beer was healthier and safer than the local drinking water. The shelf life of...
Wagons West
The wagon trains first began heading west in the early 1820s with the opening of the Santa Fe Trail from St. Louis. However, the emigrant trains to...
The Harvey Girls
Humorist Will Rogers once quipped, “Fred Harvey supplied the West in food and wives.” It wasn’t just the excellent food that attracted people to his...
Stitching Together a Relationship
Wyatt and Allie Earp bonded over a sewing machine. The legend goes that Allie Earp, Virgil’s wife, didn’t think much of his brother Wyatt. At least...