Old timers used to say, “Anybody who’s ever tried to put a braid in a mule’s tale knows a thing or two more about the subject than someone who...
Joe Felmer’s Mule
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true west blog
A Different Blazing Saddles?
John Wayne almost made an appearance in the comedy Western, Blazing Saddles. Director Mel Brooks was eating lunch in the Warner Bros. commissary one...
The Trapper’s Rendezvous
Like gold dust on the mining frontier, beaver fur was the medium of exchange in the mountains. Unique to the American industry was the rendezvous...
Hugh O’Brian: Brave, Courageous And More Than A Little Bold
Actor, movie star, humanitarian and world-class cut-up, Hugh O'Brian died this morning at age 91. O'Brian, who had several health issues, died with...
Not Bad for a Chronic Yawner
In the Apache custom, his parents named him Goyathlay for a particular trait: “he who yawns.” Born near the headwaters of the Gila River, he grew up...
Gene Wilder
The late Gene Wilder wasn’t the original Waco Kid in the comedy “Blazing Saddles.” Veteran actor Gig Young got the role of the drunken gunfighter....
The Apache Scouts
One of the smartest strategic moves by the Frontier Army during the Indian Wars was to enlist Natives as scouts. On the Plains, tribes like the...
Virgil’s Arm Flapping in the Breeze
On the night of December 28, 1881, City Marshal Virgil Earp was ambushed and hit with buckshot crossing the intersection of Fifth and Allen Streets...
Rowdy Joe vs. William Red Beard
Old West gunfights occasionally inflicted collateral damage. That was the case in October 1873 when rival saloon owners “Rowdy Joe” Lowe (pictured)...
Honeymoon Trail
There were many trails that crossed Arizona in the early days including the Butterfield Overland Stage, the Gila Trail and the Beale Camel Road and...
Steaming into the Future
Few innovations changed the face of Arizona more than the arrival of the first steam engine in Tucson in March of 1880. Travel time for passengers...
The Tale That Won’t Die
It’s been called the West’s bloodiest gunfight. Hugh Anderson and Arthur McCluskie met in the middle of the main street in Medicine Lodge, Indian...