The James-Younger gang's incredible streak of good luck ran out in Northfield, Minnesota, on September 7th, 1876 when the eight-member gang rode...
The Final Years of the James-Younger Gang
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true west blog
Celerity and Mud Wagons
Everyone’s familiar with Abbott-Donning Concord Stagecoach from the western movies but in reality the Celerity and Mud wagons were the stagecoach of...
Border Crossers
In the old days (early twentieth century) riders were often hard pressed to know exactly where the Mexican border was and often cowboys wandered...
Millard Fillmore Leech
Millard Fillmore Leech had his moment of fame in September 1877. A clerk at a mercantile in Ogallala, Nebraska, when he sold some red bandanas to a...
Rockwell Paints for Stagecoach
In 1966, legendary American artist Norman Rockwell was hired for a special job—painting a series of portraits for a remake of the classic Western...
True Grit On Screen
True Grit, the 1968 Charles Portis novel about a dissolute deputy U.S. marshal and a precocious teenage girl, was made into movies on two occasions....
Life In A Soddy
When the farmers got west of the 100th meridian they found themselves in short grass country where the grasses were gramma, needle and buffalo. The...
Jeff Kidder: Arizona Ranger
The Arizona Rangers were established as a territorial law enforcement agency in 1901 to curb the outlawry that was rampart in Arizona’s rural...
Hualapai Joe’s Lost Loot
Arizona is a wild, untamed land of jagged mountains and barren deserts making it an ideal place for lost mines and treasures. These lost treasure...
True West Treasure Hunters
If you look back at old True West issues—back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when Joe “Hosstail” Small was ramrodding the outfit—you’ll see a lot of familiar...
“Big Boy” Guinn Williams
Actor Guinn Williams carried the nickname of “Big Boy” due to his 6’2” frame. The native Texan and experienced cowboy got his Hollywood start in...
Claw-fingered Kitty, a.k.a. Eva Dugan
A few months ago a friend up in Yukon Territory wrote asking for some information on a lady of the evening who resided in the red light district of...