Old Western History

In old age, Charlie Siringo was called "Ulysses of the Wild West" for the long journey he took across the western frontier. Son of the Old West brings him and his legendary world vividly to life.

From shootouts on the Upper Frisco, to the Indian Wars and Outlaw hideouts William French experienced it all on his ranch in Western New Mexico. An immigrant from the old country—Ireland—Captain William French reached California in 1883. Nearly penniless he rested his fate and fortune on the flip of a coin; heads California, tails New Mexico. He landed on Alma New Mexico. Little did he know then what fate and fortune held in store for him. Recounting his time on the WS Ranch near Alma New Mexico, Recollections of Western Ranchman reads like a Dime-Store Western, and contains firsthand ...

Dodge City, Kansas, is a place of legend. The town that started as a small military site exploded with the coming of the railroad, cattle drives, eager miners, settlers, and various entrepreneurs passing through to populate the expanding West. Before long Dodge City's streets were lined with saloons and brothels, and its populace was thick with gunmen, horse thieves, and desperadoes of every sort. By the 1870s, Dodge City was known as the most violent and turbulent town in the West.

Black Bart is widely regarded today as not only the most notorious stage robber of the Old West but also the best behaved. Over his lifetime, Black Bart held up at least twenty-nine stagecoaches in California and Oregon with mild, polite commands, stealing from Wells Fargo and the US mail but never robbing a passenger. Such behavior earned him the title of a true “gentleman bandit.”

Some of the greatest hounds in the southwest match wits, courage, and endurance with the elusive cougar, bear, and wildcat. New Mexico and Arizona have produced some truly exceptional hounds and houndsmen over the years, and the Slash Ranch hounds were among the best. Over much of the first half of the 1900’s these hounds with Dub Evans were making a name for themselves all over the southwest. People coming from far and wide to witness them in action as well as for the chance to harvest bear and lion. The Black Range and Gila Wilderness of New Mexico where much of this book takes place, ...

Born a slave, Bass Reeves never learned to read or write English, but he spoke six Native-American languages and could recall everything someone read to him. Thus, when he became a deputy U.S. marshal working in Indian Territory, he would memorize dozens of arrest Warrants and wanted posters. In thousands of arrests during his 30-year career, he never arrested the wrong person.In Volume 2 of Bass Reeves: The Indomitable Marshal, follow him in more of his amazing adventures.

Old West Feline Hiss-tory In More Cat Tales of the Old West: Triumphs, Trials & Trivia of Frontier Felines, two-time Spur Award recipient Preston Lewis pulls together another amusing and eclectic collection of articles from western newspaper reports on frontier cats. In the sequel to his award-winning Cat Tales of the Old West: Poems, Puns & Perspectives on Frontier Felines, Lewis provides another engaging look at frontier felines from the perspective of pioneering times. In More Cat Tales of the Old West, Lewis examines cats as frontier fighters, homebodies, workers, miners, criminals, and...

A young woman finds her loyalties tested beyond limit and her desires torn beyond measure in 1846 California. After sailing around Cape Horn, and barely surviving the perilous journey, devout Protestant Rachel Tyler, arrives in California just in time for her father’s wedding and the unfolding of the Bear Flag Revolt. Though already engaged to marry a minister in Massachusetts, Rachel’s ambitious father arranges her betrothal to Roman Vasquez, a blue-blooded Catholic son of the gente de razón, the ruling class of California. Roman, a proud, Spanish soldier is ready to fight and die for...

The exceptional true story of great dogs, grizzlies, horses, mules, outlaws, and an eccentric frontiersman. Meet Mr. Grizzly is an exquisite look into the life and adventures of a rural New Mexico ranchman, and one of the best dog books ever written. Montague Stevens, a brilliantly innovative sportsman set out to train a pack of the best and most well-trained dogs in the history of bear hunting. Humorous and tear-jerking at times, it is a must read for anyone interested in the sport or anyone who loves dogs, horses, and true stories of adventure. A one-armed Englishman Montague Stevens had ...

Ten-year-old Daniel Waterford and his family join a wagon train heading for Oregon, a grueling experience for the hardiest of people and a boring one for a young boy. The journey is fraught with peril for Daniel, but by the time they arrived in Trinity, their new home, Daniel has aged far beyond his years. Travel with Daniel as he faces unimaginable challenges, and experience the Wild West as it really way, not the way movies and popular TV has led us to believe.

LAND OF STARS, from Amazon bestselling author Dorothy Wiley, continues the highly-acclaimed Wyllie family frontier saga. It’s now 1824, and the Province of Texas, an exceedingly dangerous and volatile place, is the leading edge of the West and is seized by Mexico from Spain. Blending action and romance with vigilant research, Wiley brings to life the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas—all of them a part of the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an enduring dream. Steve Wyllie, a young man with the courage and grit to confront the ...

WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD FINALIST 2021 Part action-adventure, part suspense, part heartfelt romance—and always a page-turner—Wiley’s newest addition to the Wilderness Dawning Series, BUCKSKIN ANGEL, is an intense journey back to the thrilling birth of the West. It’s 1824, and Captain Sam Wyllie and Bear MacKay, well-loved characters from the American Wilderness Series, agree they need one last adventure—a thrilling 800-mile journey through the American frontier to see their brother Stephen in the Province of Texas. Knowing that predators of all kinds lurk in the wilderness, ...

For over 150 years the image of western bad men has thrilled readers and filled movie screens. Who hasn't heard of Jesse James, the Dalton Brothers, Black Bart, or Belle Starr? They are as much a part of American folklore as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. There's something about the west that has brought out the best, and the worst, in mankind. The funny thing is, a cult following has developed around many of these bandits, making them out to be something they weren't.

Settlers in the frontier West were often easy prey for criminals. Policing efforts were scattered at best and often amounted to vigilante retaliation. To create a semblance of order, freelance enforcers of the law known as man-hunters undertook the search for fugitives. These pursuers have often been portrayed as ruthless bounty hunters, no better than the felons they pursued. Robert K. DeArment's detailed account of their careers redeems their reputations and reveals the truth behind their fascinating legends.

What if the Western world does not have its ultimate origins in a single cultural bloodline but rather a messy bramble of ancestors and influences? As battles over privilege, identity and prejudice rock the cultural wars, it's never been more important to understand how the concept of The West came to be. This book tells a bold, empowering new story of how the idea of the West was created, how it has been used to justify imperialism and racism, and also why it's still a powerful ideological tool to understand our world.

Bass Reeves was a man who forged his own destiny and wrote his own life story as he went along. Born into slavery, Reeves rose above all challenges to become one of the most legendary lawmen of the American West. As a deputy US marshal, he held himself to a personal code of conduct that went beyond the badge he wore. For Bass, the line between right and wrong was clear, and he never hesitated to enforce the law—even when it meant pursuing his own friends or family. Justice wasn’t just his duty; it was his calling.

WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA FINALIST 2022 KINDLE BOOK REVIEW AWARDS SEMI-FINALISTCan sparks of the heart ignite amid the battle that flamed the epic struggle for Texas? In 1824, ten years before the Texas Revolution, the province of Texas belonged to Mexico—but not for long. Texians would soon rebel against the oppression of the Mexican commandant. In a land that grew heroes from those with courageous and daring hearts, this heart-jolting historical romance is the fourth novel in the Wilderness Dawning Series and features Wiley’s popular and well-loved characters, the Wyllies and MacKays...

The Old West has had a powerful impact on the concept of gentlemanly masculinity among Americans. For those traditionalists among you, this audiobook is filled with authentic designs, facts, weapons, and tales from the mid-1800s to the turn of the century and slightly beyond. Here are some of the roots of the most popular holsters, fashions, weapons, cartridges, and myths preferred by collectors, reenactors, and cowboy action enthusiasts.

"No women need apply." These four discouraging words of admonition often greeted female physicians looking for jobs in the frontier-era West. Despite the dire need for medical help, it seemed most trappers, miners, and emigrants would rather suffer and die than be treated by a female doctor. Nevertheless dozens of highly trained women headed West, where they endured hardship and prejudice as they set broken limbs, performed operations, delivered generations of babies - and solidified a place for women in the medical field.

Popular culture has taught us to picture the Old West as a land of men, whether it's the lone hero on horseback or crowds of card players in a rough-and-tumble saloon. But the taming of the frontier involved plenty of women, too - and this book tells their stories. At first, female pioneers were indeed rare - when the town of Denver was founded in 1859, there were only five women among a population of almost a thousand. But the adventurers arrived, slowly but surely.