Hopi Prisoners at Alcatraz, 1895: Land, Schools, and Sovereignty
What happened in 1895?In late 1894, federal troops arrested nineteen Hopi leaders from Orayvi (Oraibi) on the Hopi mesas of ...
Derby Dam and the Cui-ui Ticutta, 1905–1944
A dam and a drying lakeIn the spring of 1905, the newly formed U.S. Reclamation Service finished Derby Diversion Dam ...
Winans (1905): Yakama Treaty Rights vs. Fish Wheels
A wheel meets a treatyAt the turn of the twentieth century, a new machine joined the Columbia River’s ancient salmon ...
“Cottonballs” and Homeland: Timbisha Shoshone at Death Valley’s Borax Era, 1883–1907
Work in a hot valley When borax entrepreneurs opened Harmony Borax Works near Furnace Creek in 1883, they entered a ...
Across the Rio Grande: Black Seminole Scouts at Fort Clark, 1870–1914
On July 4, 1870, a small group of Black Seminole families crossed from Coahuila into Texas and reached Fort Duncan ...
Doc Holliday – legendary gunfighter and gambler
Early life and education John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born on August 14, 1851, in Griffin, Georgia, into a middle-class ...
Texas John Slaughter: law and order frontier legend
In the rugged expanses of the American Southwest, few figures loom as large in the annals of law and order ...
Bill Tilghman – moral hero of Oklahoma
Bill Tilghman stands out in the annals of the American Old West as a lawman who embodied courage, integrity, and ...
Bat Masterson: the measured negotiator turned city journalist
Early life and frontier rise Bartholomew William Barclay “Bat” Masterson was born November 26, 1853, in Henryville, Quebec. His family, Irish immigrants, ...
Wild Bill Hickok – the legendary frontiersman
Early life and rise to prominence James Butler Hickok, born May 27, 1837, in Troy Grove, Illinois, developed remarkable marksmanship ...