Life on the frontier was hard. Life on the frontier was especially hard on women. The men spent their days working in the fields or hunting and the...
A Woman’s Work
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pioneer life
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...
Truth Be Known
Old Vaquero Sayings “There is a fine line between catching an outlaw and becoming one.” Quotes “Either write something worth reading or do...
How to Get a Wife
Western pioneers took extreme measures to change their marital status. The discovery of gold in the Western frontier led a mass migration of eager,...
Best of the West: Western Wear
Cowboy Up! Across the Americas, from the fields to parades, Western wear is the uniform of working men and women. In 2024, cowboy hats and boots are...
Rules of the Road
Were there rules of the road in the Wild West days? For example, when two horse riders, traveling in opposite directions, met on a road (trail), did...
Accident with a Gun
Trapper Jim Baker was seriously hurt while practicing shooting. Jim Baker was one of the great pioneers, explorers, trappers and hunters of the...
A Pioneer Lost His Land
Charles Autobees’ homestead didn’t fit the rules. Charles Autobees was a mountain man and trapper, who plied that trade starting at age 16. He...
Wagons Ho!
True West's historians reveal the real history behind Taylor Sheridan’s 1883. Hollywood producers, directors and writers have often attempted...
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...
The Oregon Trail: Part 3
As traffic on the Oregon Trail increased, a bustling industry of frontier trading posts sprang up to supply food and equipment for the five-month...
The Oregon Trail: Part 2
Most wagons were about six feet wide and twelve feet long. They were usually made of seasoned hardwood and covered with a large, oiled canvas...