As a teen in the 1880s, my great-grandfather Tolbert Alexander Burford worked as a wrangler and cowboy during the end of the great cattle drives. In...
True Texas Cowboys
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Features & Gunfights
The 20-Mule Team’s Miracle Mineral
The year was 1883, and muleskinners were earning more than college graduates ($120 per month). It was hard-earned money, fraught with danger both...
Was Pat Garrett Killed Over Illegal Aliens?
A two-year-old boy loses his father in 1908—his very famous father, Pat Garrett, responsible for killing the notorious Billy the Kid. When Jarvis...
Pigskin Warriors
Ben American Horse eyed his white opponents, ranged across the field of battle on a cool day in November 1894. They were better equipped, more...
Charles Lummis’s Coast to Coast Journey
The 26 year old’s decision to walk across the West seemed pure folly to some: “What a picnic those fellows out in the plains will have with the seat...
Will Carver Checks Out
He was supposed to be taking just a little trip to Sonora, Texas, on a cool April night in 1901. He planned to check out the bank, map the best...
A Gambler’s Fifth Ace
"You gonna pull those pistols or whistle ‘Dixie?’” Clint Eastwood’s gunslinger famously brushed off a group of Union soldiers with those sneering...
Saving America’s First True Horse
Don Juan kept his little band of mares in the pine forest at the edge of a pond. He was alert but unconcerned. Life was good for the stallion....
A Race to End All Races
The red dust of the Arabian Desert might have settled and cleared after Hidalgo’s epic cinematic ride in the well-done 2004 movie, but it’s nothing...
Not Just Horsin’ Around
No one would call this Texas robber a criminal mastermind, despite the legend that often trails his name. One stagecoach holdup netted about $38,...
Rifle Packin’ in the Old West
While the six-gun may have reigned as king of the silver screen West, in the real Old West, it was a different story. True, the handy six-shooter...
Rifle Packin’ in the Old West
While the six-gun may have reigned as king of the silver screen West, in the real Old West, it was a different story. True, the handy six-shooter...