Old Western History

In 1875, Indian Territory, in what is now the state of Oklahoma, was a haven for thieves, swindlers, and murderers, all trying to escape the reach of the law. When President U.S. Grant appointed Judge Isaac Parker judge of the Western District of Arkansas, which included the territory, Parker was intent upon bringing fugitives to justice. He authorized U.S. Marshal James Fagan to hire 200 deputy marshals to help police the 4,500 square mile lawless territory. Among those deputies was Bass Reeves. Born a slave in 1838, Reeves had spent the Civil War as a runaway in Indian Territory, and ...

THERE was a lot of adventure to be had in Alaska in the early twentieth century, and Hardy Trefzger tasted it all . . . hunting, fishing, prospecting, guiding, trading, trapping ... He even had a blue-fox farm for a while. Hardy Trefzger was born in the Black Forest of Germany to Swiss parents and received much of his education in Switzerland. While still in his youth, he migrated to the United States, where he established a small interior-decorating business. After two years in New York City, he headed west to Seattle, where all the talk was of the fabulous gold strikes in the North. He ...

The cowboy is an iconic figure in American culture. With his hat, boots, and trusty horse, the cowboy rides in at a moment of crisis to intervene against the forces of evil. In the 20th century, the cowboy of the Wild West took center stage in the realm of popular literature.

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 ...

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.

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.”

A Winchester Model 1873 rifle was found leaning against a pinion tree in the high Nevada desert in 2014. It had been there, undisturbed, for over 130 years. Nobody knows who left it there. But perhaps ...there was a Shoshone boy and his father on a hunting trip, a cowboy and his partner, a classic Western story about cattle drives, bandits, and ranching in the high Nevada desert. The discovery of a cave, hot summers, cold winters - all result in a reason for the rifle being left leaning against the tree over 130 years ago. The actual Forgotten Winchester was discovered in November 2014 in ...

The mythical legends and historical allure of the old west come galloping onward with The Old West Collection: Amazing Legends and Incredible Tales of the American West. This thundering audio compendium celebrates the epic events of America's frontier, whether rediscovering the California gold rush at Sutter's Mill in '49 or recreating the outsize personalities of John Jacob Astor to Belle Starr and Billy the Kid. From racing on horseback for Oklahoma land in '89 to Dodge and Last Chance Gulch.

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...

Leitha Watson presents "Love and Loyalty", a captivating Western Romance Fiction novel that will transport you to a world filled with passion, danger, and unwavering devotion. Prepare to be swept away on a thrilling journey where love and loyalty are put to the ultimate test. Get ready to immerse yourself in a tale that will keep you turning the pages, eager to uncover the secrets that lie within. Set against the backdrop of the Untamed Wild West, "Love and Loyalty" takes place during a time of great turmoil and change. As the sun sets on the American frontier, an extraordinary love story ...

Among the legendary heroes and outlaws of the Wild West, few names echo louder than that of Wild Bill Hickok. Wild Bill wasn’t just a name whispered in saloons or shouted on the stage of Buffalo Bill’s world-famous Wild West shows. Long before he stepped onto any stage, Wild Bill had carved his path in blood, sweat, and gunpowder. He was a Civil War scout who could read the vast plains like a map, a fearless marshal who faced down lawlessness, and a frontier sheriff whose very name sent ripples through the towns he protected.

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.

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...

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, ...

Thomas Horn Jr. was an infamous figure in the 19th-century American Old West. Cowboy, soldier, government scout, translator, and gunman, Horn’s storied life has become an important part of western folklore. In 1902, he was convicted for murdering a 14-year-old boy after a run-in during a feud with a cattle rancher. The Life of Tom Horn is his life story in his own words, written from prison before he met his fate at the gallows the following year.

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.

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.

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.

Within this audiobook, the listener will meet a 19-year-old Texas Ranger figuratively dying to shoot his gun. He does get to shoot at people, but soon realizes what he thought was a bargain, exacted a steep price. Another tale is of an old-school cowman who shut down illicit traffic in stolen livestock that had existed for years on the Llano Estacado. He was tough, salty, and had no quarter for cow thieves, or sympathy for any mealy-mouthed politicians. He cleaned house, maybe not too nicely, but he was unarguably successful.