Contention City was an Arizona boom town that soon went bust. Founded in 1879, about 10 miles outside Tombstone, the place had possibilities. It...
Arizona’s Contention City
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Oliver “Ol” Yantis
Oliver “Ol” Yantis should have stuck to farming. He ran a cotton operation near Orlando, Oklahoma when his sister started dating outlaw George...
Wilford Brimley’s Cowboy Roots
Wilford Brimley is known to Western fans as a walrus moustached, portly, somewhat curmudgeonly character who usually offers sage advice and a little...
Tombstone’s Hoptown
One of the forgotten parts of Tombstone—shown briefly in the movie Tombstone—was Chinatown. It was also called Hoptown, a slang term indicating one...
Is Deadwood Dead?
Just over 10 years ago—August 2006—Deadwood ended its run; pretty abruptly. A promised wrap-up movie or two never materialized. But reports indicate...
Gregg Palmer
Gregg Palmer was a big actor, measuring out at 6’2” and well over 200 lbs. But he was big in other ways. Palmer was a member of John Wayne’s acting...
The Lasting Influence of Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson
As much as any Texas Ranger who served in the last half century, Joaquin Jackson knew well what fellow Captain C.J. Havrda meant about being a part...
Amnesty for George Coe
George Coe fought as a Regulator during the Lincoln County War, and got something his pal Billy the Kid didn’t—amnesty for his actions. Coe was one...
The Good ‘Ol Cash Stash
Jesse West and Joe Allen are best known for hiring Jim Miller to kill Gus Bobbitt in Ada, OK in 1909. The three, along with B.B. Burrell, were...
Boone Helm
Boone Helm was a bad man through and through. Born in Kentucky in 1828, he moved West for opportunity and mayhem. He reportedly murdered several men...
Tecumseh and The Battle of Tippecanoe
If Tecumseh had his way, American expansion would have ended at the Ohio River. The Shawnee leader believed that the lands belonged to all the...
Fred Lambert
Fred Lambert was a New Mexico deputy sheriff at age 16, later a sheriff, a member of the state’s mounted police, rancher, poet, and artist. He...