When Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 its purpose was to repeal the Missouri Compromise and create two new territories and allow for...
Little-Known Effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
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Kansas
The Saga of Emporia
William Allen White made a small western paper into an internationally respected publication. William Allen White was born to be a newspaperman....
Death From Above The only casualty of the sacking of Lawrence, KS—hit by falling debris.
About 800 pro-slavery men attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence, Kansas on May 21, 1856. The invaders aimed to destroy the buildings of...
Wide Open Spaces and Western Wonderlands
The summer of 2021 is a great time to travel across these Old West highways. The West is a grand place to travel, and its many highways and...
Wichita, Kansas
The once wild and woolly cowtown still celebrates its Old West heritage. The arrival of the railroad in 1872 transformed this trading post...
To the Death A duel featured knives, guns and fatalities.
In 1873, Arthur McCluskie was seeking revenge for the death of his brother two years earlier. He tracked down the killer, Hugh Anderson, in Medicine...
Revenge Got Out of Hand An eye for an eye blew up into a massacre.
August 19, 1871. Several Texas cowboys were seeking revenge for the death of a friend eight days before. They tracked the killer, Mike McCluskie,...
Cop vs. Cop Two Kansas lawmen couldn’t keep the peace between themselves.
Billy Bailey was a Texas cowhand who made his way up the trail to Newton, Kansas in 1871. He had a reputation for being handy with a gun and...
A Panhandle Pioneer Mooar found success and more in Texas.
J. Wright Mooar was something of a pioneer in the 1870s. He started the decade working as a woodcutter in Kansas, but soon switched to buffalo...
Home On The Range Cabin “…And The Skies Are Not Cloudy All Day”
Going “home” to a sweet moment in American history.
Following the Tracks of the Kansas Pacific
Discover the beauty and history of the plains from Kansas City, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado.
Keeping The Peace—Not. Lawman Billy Bailey started trouble instead of preventing it.
Billy Bailey had the reputation as a dangerous man. Reportedly, he killed two men in Texas gunfights before moving to Kansas in the early 1870s. ...