Everyone loves the Edward Curtis Indians,” Sioux scholar Vine Deloria Jr. famously declared in the introduction for Christopher M. Lyman’s The...
The Shadow Catcher Endures
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Features & Gunfights
A Cold Ride into Hell
February 10, 1918 In the bitter cold, a four-man posse riding in from Klondyke, Arizona, surrounds a lone cabin in Kielberg Canyon. The posse—a...
Lost Photo of Crook’s Scout Discovered?
John Campbell Burge is one of my favorite Territorial Arizona photographers. Though his work is less common than other early Arizona photographers,...
Where Cowboy Hats Rule!
“Howdy, Tex!” True West’s Bob Boze Bell has traveled the world wearing his signature cowboy hat. From France to Thailand, Bob has sported his...
A Watch to Die For
Dave Tutt walked onto the town square in Springfield, Missouri, at 6 p.m. on a Friday. He was about to face off with a known adversary, “Wild Bill”...
The Truth about Wild Bill
Like most Old West icons, gunfighter “Wild Bill” Hickok is shrouded in myths. He likely started many of them. A teller of tall windies, he was...
Custer and Hostages
In December 1868, George Armstrong Custer peered down at a beautiful, freckle- faced white woman frozen in the snow. Clara Blinn had been shot in...
Highways to History
From the earliest days of conquistadors, explorers, fur trappers and pioneer settlers, the vast grandeur of the American West—and its equally...
Crazy Facts You Never Knew About Custer’s Last Stand
Tragically dying on June 25, 1876, with his men at his last battle, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer has lived on as an integral part of America’s...
From Frontier Soldier to Peacemaking President
On March 4, 1869, a rather unlikely candidate took his oath of office as the eighteenth president of the United States. The image of Ulysses S....
History, Heritage and Hospitality
Saloons, pubs and hotels played a major role in shaping the West. While saloons generally weren’t the largest buildings in a town, they were the...
In Wine There Is Truth
The most celebrated duel in recent Western films wasn’t fought with guns or bowie knives, but words: in 1993’s Tombstone, Val Kilmer’s “Doc”...