The first piece of track. The very first spike. It all began here, in Omaha, Nebraska. That’s where the Union Pacific began the race to Utah in...
Omaha is Still “All Aboard”
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Old West Saviors
A Noose and a Scoop
A hanging tree. A blacksmith’s shop. A gold field. A Studebaker. An ice cream saloon. This story was almost lost forever. It would have been if the...
Lost and Found in American History
For 184 years, it was lost. Then they found a metal military button—eventually, they’d find 39. Then glass trading beads—the first of 434. Then an...
Tejano History Under One Roof
The entire history of early Texas—from a Spanish viceroyalty, to ownership by Mexico, to the Republic of Texas to statehood—was lived by the man who...
Return to Fort Apache
One could argue there is enough negative about the history of Fort Apache that people might not want to come,” Karl Hoerig admits. “It’s a...
The Mother Lode Spirit
Ed Arata’s history with Sutter Creek, California, goes back to the Mother Lode days when gold was plentiful and his grandfather worked at the Knight...
America’s Cowboys Get Their Due
First, thanks go to the Franciscan priests who established 21 missions along the California coast starting in 1769, bringing with them the first...
Miss Yakama Nation’s Yakama War
Emily Washines believes Yakama War history offers more than “us vs. them.” This former Miss Yakama Nation knows the American Indian perspective of...
The Painter’s Cabin
Visiting the Maynard Dixon cabin is like walking into a Maynard Dixon painting. For the last seven years of his life, Maynard and his wife, muralist...
An Electric Dream Burns Out
Splendiferous. That sums up the opulence of the 1890 G.W. Frank House in Kearney, Nebraska—the showplace of a man who promoted this piece of the...
America’s Most Famous Firehouse?
If Las Vegas, New Mexico, isn’t careful, this heritage town is going to end up with the most famous firehouse in America. The E. Romero Hose &...
Sitting with Wyatt Earp
Dreams of a “fly-on-the-wall” moment in Western history certainly include sitting with Wyatt Earp in the 1920s as he set the record straight about...