The rough and tumble days of Tombstone, life in nearby silver mines and that defiant stare of Geronimo’s all live on in black-and-white images...
And the War Begins
Perhaps war between the U.S. and the Apaches was inevitable. They were once united by a hatred of Mexico, but the alliance began to change in the...
The Toughest News in the West
The Old West was filled with colorful names—none more so than The Tombstone Epitaph, the oldest continuous newspaper in Arizona. Former Apache agent...
Almost Famous
On June 10, 1883, eight men walked into a large tent, the temporary photography studio of 26-year-old Charles A. Conkling in Dodge City, Kansas. The...
North To Alaska!
As early as 1852, New York Sen. William Seward saw the possibilities of the frozen land far to the northwest of the United States. Well, maybe not...
The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas
Somebody called Ellsworth the “Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas,” and the place had its moments. But its time was brief—and it almost didn’t get to...
Sold Off By Her Father
One of the better known stories circulated about Polly Bemis is that Charlie Bemis, the son of a Connecticut Yankee jeweler, won her in a poker...
True West Moment: Horses Hate Horseradish
Back in the old days the word “horse” was often used to describe something large. So, when the pioneers saw a large white radish, they put the two...
Buffalo Bill Lies Here—Or Here
William F. Cody—Buffalo Bill—was arguably one of the great showmen of all times. He would probably enjoy the ongoing public spectacle about where...
Emperor of the United States
In 1849, Joshua Abraham Norton, born in England around 1818, arrived in San Francisco, California, from South Africa with a $30,000 inheritance and...
The Last Stage Robbery?
The nation’s last stagecoach robbery took place on December 5, 1916, at Nevada’s Jarbidge Canyon. Calling it a “stagecoach” robbery is an...
TRUE WEST MOMENT: Geronimo on the Beach
According to Apache lore, one day Geronimo and a few warriors took off running from their hideout in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico and kept...