Editor's note: I'm heading for North Dakota today, which brought all this up... When I was young, my folks would take us to visit my aunt and uncle on their Ranch in Wyoming. They had a marvelous old house with a steep roof and whitewashed wood siding. It was huge and warm and always filled …
Category: history
Bill Williams and the town named for him
Williams, Arizona, is a place that has always piqued my interest. It’s high up in the pines, about 30 miles west of Flagstaff. Summers there are mighty pleasant, very different from much of Arizona. Nowadays it’s a tourist town, famous for being the southern entrance to the Grand Canyon and the last stretch of Route …
The Best Lawman in the Old West
One of the most effective lawmen of the old west wasn’t Wyatt Earp or Wild Bill Hickok. It’s a Federal Marshall who worked out of Judge Parker’s court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. His job was hunting outlaws in the 75,000 square miles of Indian Territory - what is now the state of Oklahoma. This …
Basque Sheepherders in the West
Do you remember sheepherder wagons? I recall seeing them off in the distance, out on the prairie, in those Wyoming hills west of Cheyenne. They were found on open range around the west, on land where cows don’t do well but sheep thrive. That sheep wagon, with its white canvas top, was a beacon in …
Farming Has a Long History in the West
The mysterious cliff dwellings in the American southwest are fascinating places. They are historical registers that teach us just a little of ancient times, of people who were farming here long before Columbus. The people who lived here are the true founders of American agriculture. Some of these dwellings are very remote. A few, …
