One of the iconic symbols of the old west is the stagecoach, and here's betting there has never been a western movie without one making an...
Plump, Plumper, Plumpest
The headline brings an immediate chuckle: “How to be Plump.” Say what? Yes, in Victorian times, this 1988 book declares, there was a very different...
Mexican Food: An Arizona Favorite
“The cultural influences of Spaniards and Mexicans were indelibly printed on Arizona long before territorial times,” notes Daphne Overstreet in her...
The Nation Marched Forward During March
Lots of locales in the United States have good reason to celebrate or commemorate the month of March. It was March 2 of 1836 when Texas declared its...
The Dead Man In The Picture
One of the most iconic paintings of the old west is "The Last Spike", created in 1881 by Thomas Hill to commemorate the completion of the...
The Tombstone Collector
Jim Melikian was window shopping. Normally, the 61-year-old Arizona businessman scoured auction catalogs for items he’s been collecting since he...
Riders of the Purple Sage
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...
A Stone Sentinel Stands Tall Again
Seven feet tall. Ten inches square. Eight hundred pounds. Once, 720 of them. Every half-mile from Minnesota to Montana. Standing since 1891 or...
Crown City’s Old Vistas
Box after box of photos. Day after day. One image more fabulous than the next. Photographer Todd Stands thought he knew a lot about “Coronado...
Let’s Hang This “Damned Nuisance”
History tells us that in the Old West, the rope was an instrument of both justice and injustice—sometimes they hanged the right guy for the right...
Through Yavapai-Apache Eyes
New Year's Day on January 1 is normally celebrated as the start of a new year, a day off from work and a day to eat black eyed peas for good luck....
One fascinating and Formidable Pioneer Woman
When she died in 1926, the Tombstone Epitaph wrote: “Mrs. Hughes was one of the few pioneer women in the territory who left a lasting impression...