Surviving Festival of the West

Surviving Festival of the West

The Rockin’ M Wranglers don’t really look like wranglers, and Jim and Jeanne Martin certainly don’t sound like most wranglers I’ve known. The couple is yodeling away on the main stage. Most wranglers I know don’t yodel and don’t even try. Yet the crowd is tapping its...
Following Calamity Jane

Following Calamity Jane

Born in Missouri in 1856 Martha Canary came west with her family, spent part of her childhood in the Montana gold fields near Virginia City and Nevada City, and came of age in Utah following the death of her parents (her mother in Montana, her father in Utah). She...
Remembering a Western Literary Icon

Remembering a Western Literary Icon

Elmer Kelton leaves behind some big boots to fill. Well, he would have, had he worn boots. “I’ve got two glass ankles and flat feet,” he told me when we first met in June 1997, “and they don’t respond to high heels too well.” Kelton, who won a record seven Spur Awards...
Top 10 True Western Towns of 2010

Top 10 True Western Towns of 2010

Given to towns that have made an important contribution to preserving their pasts. We hope this award will not only encourage federal, state and local governments to continue funding such efforts, but also inspire Western towns to reward its citizens and visitors...