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....
From Frontier Soldier to Peacemaking President
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Features & Gunfights
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”...
Studio Props?
Our February issue sharing how history should view Chatto, in John Sandifer’s “Apache Traitor or Hero?” article, has sparked an interesting...
Clash of the Mad Madams
April 18, 1886 The beautiful Bessie Colvin is fed up. After a year of arguing over “extracurricular activities” and bad accounting, the star...
A Belle of Old Fort Sumner
Walter Noble Burns was onto something. A 56-year-old Chicago journalist, Burns had become intrigued by a long-dead and largely forgotten outlaw...
The Cup Spinning Sequence
When then-Director Kevin Jarre first spoke to Val Kilmer about the gun-twirling, cup-spinning scene in 1993’s Tombstone, the actor who played John...
Road Trip!
The long American road trip across the West evokes emotions of freedom and adventure and mental images of windswept plains, awe-inspiring mountain...
Shine Smith
Hugh Dickson “Shine” Smith was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1912 and assigned to a church in Coleman, Texas where he became a “cowboy...
Suckers on the Strip
Louis Mueller always said both Sooners and Suckers participated in the 1893 Cherokee Strip Land Run, and my impression was that he put himself in...
Shoot the Chief
Harry Love is best known for tracking down California outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. But he had other adventures. After a stint in the army, in the late...
Hell’s Comin’ With Me!
March 20, 1882 With the recent killing of Morgan Earp by assassins, Wyatt Earp spends his 34th birthday attending to the details of shipping his...