Recently a True West reader asked what a frontier army soldier could take home with him when his enlistment was up. Author and military historian...
Frontier Army
read more
life on the frontier
The Romance of the Stage Line?
Riding a coach was a challenge. Rafael Pumpelly was a travel writer who hitched a ride on the Butterfield Overland Mail Line traveling cross country...
Clothing for the Cavalry…and Other Frontier Soldiers.
Soldiers on the frontier were issued all the clothing essentials, including socks and long woolen underwear. It was of cheap quality and wore out...
Pioneer Women
I used to perform the old folk song, “Waggoner’s Lad” and the first lines were “Hard luck is the fortune of all womenkind. They’re always...
Pioneer Pets
Dogs and cats are as Western as six-guns and Stetsons—and a lot more lovable. In the Old West, dogs were common—and necessary. Cats, not at first,...
Jolly Times In Iowa
A Hawkeye State minister and a basement entrepreneur changed how the world snacks. Popcorn as we know it may seem like a fairly new concept, but...
Frontier Dentistry
Oftentimes I hear folks say that they wish they'd lived "in the good old days. Usually, I reply, “The good old days really weren’t all that good.”...
History of the Toothbrush
When was the toothbrush invented? Tools to clean teeth have been around since prehistoric times. Folks used twigs, bones, feathers and even...
Eat a Peach
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Oklahoma became one of the nation’s leaders in peach and stone fruit production. Fruit is not exactly the...
An In-Depth Look at the Telegraph System in the Old West
A True West Reader asks, “How did the telegraph system work in the Old West? I read things such as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone sending a telegraph to...
Three Cheers for Hospitality
The Harvey Girls of yesteryear set the standard for uniform customer service across the West. The Harvey Girls rose to fame in the later part...