Jim Alexander has always liked November. It’s his birth month—he turns 82 on November 7—and he shares the month with the focus of his life’s work,...
A Clear Path to a Clear Fork Post
read more
Art, Guns and Culture
No Place Like Home
Tomasita Duran could not believe what was right before her eyes. On that day in 2004, the director of the housing authority saw something special...
No Business Like Show Business
There’s no business like show business, if you tell me it’s so. Traveling through the country is so thrilling. Standing out in front on opening...
Klondike Dining with the Earps
The Klondike and Yukon Rivers, bordering Alaska and Canada, were the final frontier for 19th-century miners out West. In the late 1890s, thousands...
Virgil’s Sixgun
Although the infamous Gunfight Near the OK Corral is arguably the best known and most written about shootout in the Old West, little is known about...
Eating Out
A basic necessity in frontier camps, restaurants often started out in tents. An evolution took place as wagons rolled west and pioneers arrived to...
The Shoots Far Gun
American Indians called the Sharps buffalo rifle the “Shoots Far Gun,” or the gun that “shoots today and kills tomorrow,” and for good reason. In...
On the Hunt for Geronimo
Five thousand against 140! With Geronimo’s breakout from the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona on May 17, 1885, the U.S. Army conducted the most...
The Myth of Whiskey
Not all American West pioneers walked up to bars, like Hollywood Westerns often portray, and ordered shots of whiskey. In fact, most would have...
Geronimo Prize Breaks Record
A Model 1886 Winchester rifle presented to the man who captured Apache leader Geronimo 130 years ago this August is now the most expensive single...
Crusade for a Chief
He resembled George Washington and helped save Gen. George Crook’s men at the Battle of the Rosebud during the Great Sioux War of 1876—this Shoshone...
Buffalo Soldier Grub
Buffalo soldiers, officially organized in 1866, were an important part of settling the West. They served in various all-black regiments. Benjamin...