Thank the Grand Canyon. Long before it was a national park—before it was even a game preserve, thanks to President Teddy Roosevelt—this steep-sided...
Riders of the Purple Sage
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No Wounds In His Back
The Alamo’s anniversary, March 6, ignites lively debate every year among aficionados concerning the how, why and where of every aspect of that epic...
Custer’s Other Regiment
The 19th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry fought the harsh elements and rough terrain, but never the American Indians. The Sunflower State found a soldier...
The Chisholm Trail
150 Years of Trail History The Texas cattle-trailing industry lasted only fifty years. From Texas statehood in 1846 until 1897, Texas drovers...
The Oklahoma Invader
In 1880, Capt. David L. Payne and the boomers began entering Indian Territory with the hope of establishing permanent homes. Payne was a veteran of...
Smile!
Most people who study photos from the 1800s, whether these are family photos or historical images of the American West, have wondered why the people...
The Western Dreams of a Nobel Outlaw
Mama, take this badge off of me I can’t use it anymore It’s getting’ dark, too dark for me to see I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door. —Bob...
Top 10 True Western Towns of 2017
The West has always been a place for Americans who dream. About a second chance, about riches, about a free and productive life on fertile land with...
True West’s Best of the West 2017: Heritage Travel
Millions of miles of interstates, highways, roads and dirt tracks crisscross the mountains, valleys, deserts and plains of the Western United...
A Man of Many Firsts
To describe Joseph Rutherford Walker as a typical frontiersman would be to label Abraham Lincoln a typical president. Walker was a man of many...
Best of the West 2017: Western Movies, DVDs and TV Shows
For all of the pathfinders’ importance in the settling of the West, the films about those great pioneers comprise a short list indeed. The best...
A Colonel’s Secret Weapon
As the small train of wagons drew within sight of Fort Phil Kearny, the weary travelers rejoiced. “I could have clapped my hands for joy,” one wrote...