Contributors
Wyoming History: Otto Chenoweth, The Gentleman Outlaw Of Lost Cabin
Sheep baron J.B. Okie was throwing a high-society party at his opulent mansion in Lost Cabin, Wyoming, when it was crashed by the sheriff and his prisoner. That prisoner was Otto Chenoweth, an outlaw horse thief who escaped and charmed the ladies as a dashing gentleman.
Jackie DorothyJuly 06, 2025
Wyoming History: Mountain Man Joe Meek Survived Bears And Blackfeet Raids
When an 18-year-old Joe Meek arrived in the wilderness of Wyoming in 1829, the greenhorn had to toughen up fast to survive bears and hostile tribes. When he fell asleep on guard duty, he also survived the wrath of Capt. William Sublette.
Jackie DorothyJuly 05, 2025
Wyoming History: Taken Hostage With Twins By Murderer Changed Green River Woman Forever
It’s been 70 years since Charles Billings, an imposter Pinedale ranch hand, gunned down two men and took a Green River woman and her infant twin daughters hostage. The incident traumatized the woman for the rest of her life, her daughters say.
Dale KillingbeckJune 29, 2025
Wyoming History: Chugwater Wild Man Was 7-12 Feet Tall And Faster Than A Horse
Newspapers reported the Wild Man of Chugwater was between 7 and 12 feet tall, covered in dark hair and could run faster than any horse. He even eluded a hunt in 1887 by a circus owner who wanted to put him in a cage for his freak show.
Jackie DorothyJune 28, 2025
Wyoming History: Thermopolis Was Founded By A Dashing Outlaw Bachelor
Ben Hanson was the founder of Thermopolis, Wyoming, and a well-respected businessman and cattleman. He also was a dashing outlaw bachelor who was quick with his gun and friends with the notorious Wild Bunch.
Jackie DorothyJune 23, 2025
Wyoming History: That Time A Yellowstone Park Ranger Lassoed Polar Bears
Carl Dunrud steadied himself against the small schooner. It was 1926 and the Yellowstone Park ranger and Wyoming cowboy had a lasso ready as he eyed his target. Looking back at him was a polar bear swimming in the cold Arctic Sea.
Jackie DorothyJune 21, 2025
Wyoming History: ‘The Cheyenne Kid’ Muggsy Schoel Was Boxing Champ In Early 1900s
Wyoming’s “Muggsy” Schoel fought some of the biggest names in professional boxing including the lightweight champion of the world in 1909. Also known as “The Cheyenne Kid,” he was the featherweight champion of the West before he was 20 and fought his last fight when he was 50.
Dale KillingbeckJune 21, 2025
Wyoming History: Outlaw Walt Punteney Was Cattle Rustler, Bank Robber, Heck Of A Nice Guy
Walt Punteney was a well-known member of the notorious Wild Bunch outlaw gang. He rustled cattle, robbed banks and was cheerful and a heck of a nice guy. He also built a saloon which eventually became the popular Cowboy Bar in Pinedale.
Jackie DorothyJune 15, 2025
Wyoming History: How The Custer Wolf Got The Best Of A Famed Outlaw Hunter
Wyoming’s premier hunter “High Powered” Williams, who had once bested a Hole-in-the-Wall gang member, finally met his match in the 1920s. But it wasn’t another outlaw, it was the notorious Custer wolf that was terrorizing the countryside.
Jackie DorothyJune 08, 2025
Wyoming History: 1927 Kelly Flood Killed 6, Washed Out 75 Buildings
Millions of tons of debris collapsed off Sheep Mountain in Teton County into the Gros Ventre River 100 years ago, creating a new lake. Two years later, the dam breached, flooding the town of Kelly — killing six and washing out 75 buildings.
Dale KillingbeckMay 31, 2025
Wyoming History: In 1930s-40s, United Made Cheyenne The ‘Air Capital Of The West’
In the 1930s and 1940s, United Airlines made Cheyenne its hub for maintenance, research and training, even making the city the “air capital of the West.” But in 1961, the last of the airline’s ties to the city took off for the last time.
Dale KillingbeckMay 04, 2025
The American West: The Black Hawk War In Utah
The longest, bloodiest war between Indians and Mormon settlers in Utah saw fighting and killing in some 150 skirmishes spread across much of the territory for years. The Ute who led the fighting was Black Hawk, and it became his war.
R.B. MillerMay 02, 2025
Isabel Jewell: Shoshoni, Wyoming’s Hard-Boiled, Tough-Talking Actress
Shoshoni, Wyoming's Isabel Jewell was usually typecast as a hard-boiled, tough-talking broad, gangster's moll, dumb blonde, prostitute, and is known for her poor "white trash" role as Emmy Slattery in “Gone with the Wind.”
Jackie DorothyApril 27, 2025
The American West: Paul Miller Turns Inheritance Into A Freighting Operation
A freighter with a bull team consisting of five oxen, Paul Miller hauled on the Sidney-Deadwood Trail and across South Dakota, carrying everything from mining equipment to beans.
Peggy SandersApril 26, 2025
The American West: A Tale Of Two Colorado Cattle Empires
John Wesley Prowers built the largest cattle ranch in southern Colorado while John Wesley Iliff created his own cattle empire in northeastern Colorado. Both John Wesleys were honest, pioneering men, and very determined.
Linda WommackApril 25, 2025
American West: Wyoming's Earl Durand, The Last Outlaw
The last of the true mountain men, Cody's Earl Durand made his own law. Unwilling to give in to a rapidly changing world that abandoned the ways of the past, Durand fought an inevitable future, until a bank robbery did him in.
Kellen CutsforthApril 24, 2025
The American West: Medicine Water Leader of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers
Medicine Water became the leader of the Cheyenne Bowstring Warrior Society, commonly known as the Dog Soldiers. With his wife Mo-chi and the Dog Soldiers he set out to preserve the culture and traditions, and the territory for the Cheyenne people.
Linda WommackApril 23, 2025
The American West: An Early California - Oregon Cattle Drive
Ewing Young and his men drove a herd of cattle into the Willamette Valley in 1837, thus providing a basis for the dairy and beef industries in Oregon. This cattle drive was an undertaking that would not occur on such a vast scale again until the late 1860s, when Texas cowboys would herd their cattle north to Kansas railhead towns.
James A. CrutchfieldApril 22, 2025
The American West: Doc Peirce Prepared Wild Bill Hickok For Burial
Known as the man who laid out Wild Bill Hickok for burial, Doc Peirce had a storied life and his brief time in Deadwood made him famous. Of Hickok Peirce said, “he was the prettiest corpse I ever saw — the blood having run out of him so quickly, he looked just as if he was a wax figure.”
Peggy SandersApril 21, 2025
The American West: The Texian For Texas Independence, 1836
When Texian delegates declared independence from Mexico in 1836 José Antonio Navarro of San Antonio was one of the signers. He would later sign the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, the only Texas native whose name was affixed to both the Texian Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
R.B. MillerApril 20, 2025
The American West: The Birth Of The Rough Riders
Each recruit had to be a good shot be able to ride anything in the line of horseflesh, a rough and ready fighter, and above all must absolutely have no understanding of the word fear.
James A. CrutchfieldApril 19, 2025
The American West: A Case Of Gold Fever In Colorado
The story of westward expansion includes several episodes of mineral discoveries setting off national and even international gold rushes including one that brought John D. Young to Colorado.
Terry A. Del BeneApril 18, 2025
The American West: Buffalo Bill’s Little Known Business Partner
Evelyn Booth, a wealthy young English sportsman tumbled into a shooting match with Buffalo Bill Cody before a crowd of 3,000 spectators. That chance encounter gave Booth an opportunity to partner in one of the most profitable and renowned Western enterprises ever.
Kellen CutsforthApril 17, 2025
The American West: Cripple Creek’s Sweet Treat – The Black Cow
Who doesn't love a rich, creamy Root Beer Float? The simple and oh, so sweet refreshing treat was originally called the “Black Cow” and the sweet concoction was created in the mountain mining camp of Cripple Creek, Colorado.
Linda WommackApril 16, 2025