Owen Wister’s Wyoming

Owen Wister’s Wyoming

Owen Wister’s The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains, published in 1902, considered to be the first Western novel, is about a black-haired Wyoming cowboy, his love for a Vermont schoolteacher and his search for justice during the early days of Wyoming. The...
Arizona Pearce Boom to Bust

Arizona Pearce Boom to Bust

Few folks driving on the old Ghost Town Trail northeast of Tombstone, through Gleeson, Courtland and Pearce are aware of the fact that it was quite a boom town after the decline of the silver rich city on Goose Flats. The town was named for Jimmy Pearce. He and his...
It Always Rains After a Dry Spell

It Always Rains After a Dry Spell

  It seems like my entire life has been spent living in a drought. I was born in Mesa, Arizona in 1939 where we lived on a small livestock farm. My father, a patient man, would always say, “It always rains after a dry spell.” It never rained and finally he sold...
Nevada’s Silver Roots

Nevada’s Silver Roots

What do San Francisco real estate, George Hearst, Mark Twain, the Civil War and the Nobel Peace Prize have in common? The answer: Nevada’s famous Comstock Lode. In July 1859, a weary traveler strode into Grass Valley, California. He had trudged more than 150 miles...
Hazards on the Long Trail

Hazards on the Long Trail

The Long drives from South Texas to Kansas from the 1860s to the 1880s were roughly six hundred miles and took about six weeks. I should have taken less but there were a number of obstacles to face along the way. Grass and water or lack thereof could cause problems....