What did cowboys wear as underwear? Ethan Cooperrider Coulee City, Washington Long johns were first introduced into England in the 17th century,...
Long Johns, Dirty Dave and the Bird Cage
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Vaqueros, Buckaroos and Cowboys
For 70 years, True West magazine’s editors and contributors have been among the greatest chroniclers of the American cowboy. True West’s founding...
Rowdy Cowboys, Outlaws, and Blood Feud
L.R. Millican’s life in Lampasas, Texas, was both lucky and legendary. Lampasas, for a time, was on the edge of a lively frontier in Texas, and much...
Kingman Kin
Here’s a classic film story that involves my hometown, Kingman, the Hotel Beale and my shirttail kin. As the story goes, Buster Keaton was...
The First of the Silver Screen Cowboys
Edwin S. Porter’s, The Great Train Robbery hit the silver screen in 1903. Filmed in the wilds of New Jersey, it lasted just nine minutes. It was the...
The Power of Pictures
The very best historical photographs from our treasured vaults define our idea of the West. In honor of our 70th year, the editors of True West have...
Border Security
The history of border security predates Poncho Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico and General Pershing Punitive Expedition by several years....
How Common was the Cross Draw?
The cross draw was popular among cowboys of the Old West so their pistols wouldn’t get in the way of their work around the ranch. It was also easier...
Segregation in the Old West
In the Netflix film, The Harder They Fall, a western movie about black outlaws in the 1880's and 1890's, it shows the Old West with "Black towns"...
Billy the Kid, Gunfighters and Rewards
During a film class on Western films it was observed while watching the film The Gunfighter a main character was wearing one spur throughout the...
The Harvey Girls
Humorist Will Rogers once quipped, “Fred Harvey supplied the West in food and wives.” It wasn’t just the excellent food that attracted people to his...
Cowboys on the Long Trail
How many 'Cowboys' came though a town like Abilene or Dodge City each season? As you know numbers can be deceiving. For example the number of...