When the Civil War broke out in 1861, one foe the Confederacy did not anticipate was the Mescalero Apaches of western Texas and central New Mexico....
Vanished
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Features & Gunfights
Bat Masterson’s Femmes Fatales
Bob Wright, one of the earliest residents of Dodge, who stayed on to become the town’s most prominent businessman and political figure, related this...
As Mule To Man
While talking to his mule as they plowed along, the farmer said. “Well Lightning. you’re just a mule and I’m just a man, made in the image of God,...
Bill Tilghman’s “Prairie Queen”
This is a story that George W. Bolds told me. In Dodge City he was known as “Cimarron George.” I made notes, wrote the story and have his...
Remembering Mrs. Squatting Bear
The Steamer Fontenelle slowed and drifted towards the shore at Kansas City. Smoothly, the paddle wheel was switched into reverse and thrashed...
History of the Cowboy
From about 1870 until the late 1930s, one style of hat reigned supreme on the Mexican border—the Sugarloaf Sombrero—named for the crown’s...
Cattledrive to NYC
Texas Longhorns were a tough breed of cattle, in a tough place—Texas. And tough were the men that drove them. Two such men, though hardly men at...
Stinking Rich
Stinking rich was Ho-Ta-Moie, which means rolling or roaring thunder....
Revenge of the Yuma
For several hundred years the Yuma Indians had resided along the Lower Colorado River. They were of Hokan stock, primarily farmers who benefitted...
Tragedy and Triumph
The odyssey that led the Parker clan to the edge of the Texas frontier started far to the east, in the state of Virginia. John Parker, leader of a...
How Wild Bill Hickok Lost His Head
In the good old days, Wild Bill Hickok was reported as being a very cool customer. He remained calm during an argument or gunfight and never lost...
A Pistoleer Poet?
James Butler Hickok proved on numerous occasions that he was neither gun nor camera shy, and his attraction to the opposite sex is also well known....