During the early days California’s gold rush, women were a distinct minority, outnumbered about twenty to one. In San Francisco in 1849 it was...
The Belles of San Francisco
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A Bond Sealed with a Shot in the Behind
Actors John Wayne and Ward Bond were compatriots for more than 30 years. Both played football at the University of Southern California. Both got...
Courtship and Marriage in the Territories
One might say Asa Mercer was a "marriage arranger." In 1861 he became a founding father and first president of the University of Washington. He was...
Pioneer Women in the West
Back in the 1960s I used to perform the old folk song, “Waggoner’s Lad.” The first line went like this: “Hard luck is the fortune of all womankind....
Drop ‘Em! Belts or No Belts?
In the movie Open Range, Boss (Robert Duval) and Charlie (Kevin Costner) rough up some bad guys. And just to humiliate them, Boss orders them to...
6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Wyatt Earp Edition
People used to play a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The rules: you had to be able to find unusual connections to the actor in six or...
John Selman Pt. III
About the same time John Selman shot and killed Bass Outlaw John Wesley Hardin rode into El Paso and hung up his shingle as a lawyer. The...
John Selman Pt. II
In El Paso Selman spent most of his time in the city’s gambling dens and an occasional job as a constable. In August, 1893 the 54-year-old Selman...
John Selman Pt. I
The question came up the other day, was John Selman a lawman, bad guy or a back-shooter? The answer is: All of the above. John Henry Selman,...
The Life of a Fur Trapper
There was no shortage of ways to go to the “go under” in the Far West during the heyday of the Mountain Men. In 1856 Antoine Robidoux could account...
The Rendezvous
Like gold dust in the mining camps, beaver fur was the medium of exchange in the mountains. In 1825 William Ashley came up with an idea unique to...
Jim Bridger’s Tall Tales
Once there was a mountain man who couldn't write his name, Yet he deserves the front row seat in History's Hall of Fame, He forgot more about the...