The true story of how the trailblazer became the spearpoint of empire All Images Courtesy True West Archives Unless Otherwise Noted Kit Carson...
Kit Carson and the Conquest of California
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Features & Gunfights
The Iron Horse and Kit Carson
While innumerable stories about trains, train robberies and the famed trailblazer appeared in True West during its 70-year history, they were rarely...
Two-Lane Blacktops and Red Dirt Highways
Pack your bags and head West for adventures filled with fun and history. Road tripping across the West has come a long way from the...
Captain of All Rangers for Life
Texas Ranger Jim Gillett writes himself into fame. Jim Gillett was just 20 years old when he decided to join the Texas Rangers in...
The Battle of Battle Flat
Five Prospectors vs. 50 Yavapais Maps & Graphics by Gus Walker Based on the research of John Langellier and Jack McPhee June 2,...
Into the Den of Infamy
The Last Hours of the Notorious King Fisher The hack delivered King Fisher and Ben Thompson to the Vaudeville Theatre within a few minutes, as it...
One Ranger, One Riot
Ten Texas Rangers who never stood down Now riding into their third century, one of the nation’s oldest law enforcement agencies carries a...
The Legendary Texas Rangers
The Lone Star lawmen have been a favorite of editors and readers of True West for seven decades. In 1953, the year True West magazine...
Pack Your Bags, Time to Get Western!
Historic saloons, hotels and ranches are ready to serve you up a slice of the Old West. If you’re like me, tendrils of the Old West wrap...
Vera’s Life in the Circus was a Zoo
Her $10 greenhorn mistake didn’t help. The first time Vera McGinnis entered the Big Top at Madison Square Garden in New York City, she looked like a...
The Tunnel Saloon Fight
Pete Gabriel vs Former Deputy Joe Phy A Miraculous Recovery MAY 31, 1888 Pete Gabriel, accompanied by his friend Mike Rice, leaves in...
The Bandit Bard
How the English-born, Civil War veteran’s career as America’s most prolific poet-stagecoach robber began on the backroads of California’s gold...