Renegade Roads
The Bloody Bozeman
- Published May 13, 2013
- Written by Candy Moulton
Trails across the West in the mid-1800s crisscrossed Indian lands, often displacing the people who had been living on the land for generations. The Bozeman Trail is no exception. It cuts through some of the prime hunting grounds for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribes and was hotly contested as a result.
Remembering the Dakota War in Minnesota
- Published April 15, 2013
- Written by Johnny D Boggs
Are you here to see the Dakota War exhibit?” a male worker at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul asks me.
It takes a moment before I can answer. I didn’t expect anyone in Minnesota to be broadcasting the 150th anniversary of a war that most people here would just as soon as forget.
A Pathfinder’s Trail
- Published May 16, 2012
- Written by Candy Moulton
Thousands of overland immigrants to Oregon and California from 1845 to 1849 followed a path first blazed by John C. Fremont.
Seeking Ute Stories
- Published March 18, 2013
- Written by Candy Moulton
I sat in the front row of a school auditorium watching girls compete in a princess contest. This was not a competition of fancy hair and youngsters wearing makeup, but rather a tradition dating back decades.
Bicycling the Oregon Trail
- Published April 16, 2012
- Written by Candy Moulton
Tens of thousands of people organized at Independence Square in Independence, Missouri, to follow the Oregon Trail in the 19th century.
Give Me a Homestead
- Published February 12, 2013
- Written by Candy Moulton
When my grand-mother arrived in Wyoming in March 1903 and moved into the two-room cabin her first husband had built, she must have believed her life in the American West would be better than what she would have found in her homeland.
Following Sibley’s Confederate Invasion
- Published March 13, 2012
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
You’ve gotta love Texians and the Confederate government. They actually thought this was a good idea.
Trailing Billy
- Published December 10, 2012
- Written by Bob Boze Bell
Last October I made my umpteenth trip to New Mexico from Arizona where I live.
Like the preeminent Billy the Kid scholar Fred Nolan and master collector Bob McCubbin, I blame a book for leading me back to New Mexico. Not just any book, but the same book: The Saga of Billy the Kid by Walter Noble Burns.
Following Arizona’s Road to Statehood
- Published January 10, 2012
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
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.
Hanging Your Hat in Colorado’s Historic Hotels
- Published November 05, 2012
- Written by Johnny D Boggs
Sure, you can find historic hotels across the West, but I don’t know if any state offers a better selection than Colorado. Don’t believe me? Well, try this road trip on for size.
Following New Mexico’s Road to Statehood
- Published November 08, 2011
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
Ah, New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment. Or, as many say, the Land of Entrapment.
On the Trail of Jedediah Smith
- Published October 02, 2012
- Written by Candy Moulton
The rugged country on the west side of the Teton Range, between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, is a wilderness area named for Jedediah Strong Smith, who came west as one of the trappers organized by William Ashley in 1823.
On the Trail of the Dalton Gang
- Published October 04, 2011
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
Standing in front of the gallows at Fort Smith National Historic Site, I’m overcome by history.
Sleeping in a Dog’s Head
- Published September 01, 2012
- Written by Candy Moulton
Nesting in the belly of a beagle, in the cabin of a sternwheeler or in a granary surrounded by flower gardens can give you not only a unique night of lodging, but also a chance to explore the American West and have something to talk about when you get back home.
Conflict on the Range
- Published August 28, 2011
- Written by Candy Moulton
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.
Buffalo Tracks
- Published August 07, 2012
- Written by Johnny D Boggs
2012-08-06
In the Rockies of Western Montana, I have the most perfect view of a buffalo. It’s inspiring, humbling, beautiful, majestic.
Happy 225th Birthday, Davy Crockett!
- Published July 28, 2011
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
“Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee....”
Following the Santa Fe Trail
- Published July 10, 2012
- Written by Candy Moulton
When first opened to traffic in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail linked the American markets along the Missouri River with the long-established Mexican trade center of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Oregon Trail Endangered
- Published June 27, 2011
- Written by Candy Moulton
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.
Up and Down in the Black Hills
- Published June 12, 2012
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
There are two sides to every story, and the greatest thing about the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming is that you can hear and see both sides.
Forts of the Northern Plains
- Published May 24, 2011
- Written by Candy Moulton
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.
