Billy the Kid’s legend has hovered over the landscape of the American West for 125 years, a Hindenburg of hype and fantasy, always there to nourish...
Oklahoma’s 101 Ranch
In 1879, Col. George Washington Miller with son, Joe, then age 11, rode across the...
Reno Gang Miffed by Train Takeover
They say there’s honor among thieves. That may or not be so. But Walker Hammond and Michael Colleran learned the hard way that there are outlaw...
Buffalo Bill’s Columbus Adventure
In May 1883, the population of the small frontier town Columbus, Nebraska, swelled by 73 people when several passenger cars and six boxcars of...
The West’s Greatest Chiefs
They were the leaders of the Indians, whether they conducted war with their traditional enemies, resisted the European invasion, practiced spiritual...
Buffalo Bill’s Columbus Adventure
In May 1883, the population of the small frontier town Columbus, Nebraska, swelled by 73 people when several passenger cars and six boxcars of...
Sports in the Wild West
If you mention the word “sports” in the same breath with the “Old West,” most people will give you a blank stare. Yet sports were as much a part of...
The Weird Weird West
Under the category of weird but true, the Old West offered enough episodes to fill a sensation-mongering newspaper. Make that 100 newspapers. Some...
Deadwood’s Lost Chinatown
A Chinese man enters a barn followed by Doc Cochran and Johnny Burns, a thug working for the infamous saloon owner, Al Swearengen. The Chinese man...
Wyatt Earp Punts?
From handball to football, from polo to golf, and from the Tombstone Tigers to the Wyoming State Penitentiary All-Stars, true Westerners have always...
The Art of Disaster
John Mulvany was an artist in search of a masterpiece. He’d been preparing for it almost all of his life. Born in Ireland in 1844, he came to New...
The Racial Frontier
Men of African descent were in the West since the time of Spanish exploration in the 16th century. Estevanico, a Black slave from Morocco, was among...