Bicycling the Oregon Trail

Tens of thousands of people organized at Independence Square in Independence, Missouri, to follow the Oregon Trail in the 19th century.

Riches for Chinese Miners

Chinese laborers played a prominent role in the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, and they were equally instrumental in mining operations throughout the Intermountain West.

Following Sibley’s Confederate Invasion

You’ve gotta love Texians and the Confederate government. They actually thought this was a good idea.

150 Places to Celebrate Kansas's 150th Birthday

Following Arizona’s Road to Statehood

It’s hard to believe, but it was here, off Interstate 40 at milepost 325—in the middle of nowhere—that Arizona’s road to statehood really began.

Following the Trail of Quanah Parker

This is surreal-and, no, I’m not stoned on peyote.

Following New Mexico’s Road to Statehood

Ah, New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment. Or, as many say, the Land of Entrapment.

On the Cheyenne Heritage Trail

Hmmm. Several years back, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department created the Cheyenne Heritage Trail, a 400-plus-mile route featuring 10 stops and two “drive-by” sites in western Oklahoma that played key roles in the history of the Southern Cheyenne Indians.

On the Trail of the Dalton Gang

Standing in front of the gallows at Fort Smith National Historic Site, I’m overcome by history.

Trailing Alfred Jacob Miller in the West

Alfred Jacob Miller was 27 years old when Scotsman Capt. William Drummond Stewart visited his Baltimore studio in 1837.

Conflict on the Range

You wouldn’t know it today when you drive across Colorado and Wyoming, seeing cattle grazing with sheep herds nearby, that a century ago such juxtaposition was not only unusual, but, in many cases, very, very unwelcome—sometimes deadly.

Ice Age Floods Trail

Since my sister says I am older than dirt, I will tell you that back when I was just a youngster--you know, during the last Ice Age, about 12,000 to 18,000 years ago--glaciers spread down out of what is now Canada into present-day northern Montana.

Happy 225th Birthday, Davy Crockett!

“Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee....”

Following John Wesley Hardin Across Texas

Everybody is soooooo nice in Bonham, Texas, I find it hard to believe that this is the place that gave birth to a psycho, bigoted, cold-blooded murdering SOB like John Wesley Hardin.

Oregon Trail Endangered

I have spent years traveling overland trails in the West; some might say I have an obsession for traveling three miles an hour in a covered wagon.

Dreams of Gold on the Starvation Trail

Gold seekers intent on finding the quickest ways to the Colorado gold fields forged the Smoky Hill Trail, but many of them paid a terrible price in their quest as tthey failed to recognize the dangers in crossing the Kansas and Colorado Plains.

Forts of the Northern Plains

I have a hankering to put some more miles on my car, so I fill my gas tank and head west to visit some of the forts established in the Intermountain West and Northern Plains during the 19th century.

The Old Snake Trade Route

Indian trade routes criss-crossed the country generations before any Euroamerican travelers arrived on foot, horseback or via covered wagons.

Following Dinosaur Tracks in the West

“Daddy, Daddy! Look! There are dinosaurs!”

The Walls of a Prison Will Never Hold Me

Angola, Louisiana, might not be considered the West to some folks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any roundup get as Western as its prison rodeo-and I’ve attended plenty of rodeos.