Old West Saviors
The Windsor Widow
- Published May 13, 2013
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Mark Jones thought he was having a leisurely haircut in the small Colorado town of Del Norte that he and his wife had chosen for their retirement. It was 1998, and Jones was due for time off after heading the capital facilities department at Stanford University, where he had overseen the restoration of several major buildings.
Main Street Dreams
- Published April 15, 2013
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Main Street has a particular meaning in America. It’s where everything started, and where great memories still live. For Zuni Gov. Arlen Quetawki, Main Street means new life and opportunities for his tribe.
Silver City’s Treasure
- Published April 16, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Susan Berry grew up in Silver City, New Mexico, a place she remembers as “not a lot happening, but loaded with potential.”
A Bawdy Queen of the Row
- Published March 18, 2013
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
In its day, the “queen of the row” cost three times more for a trip upstairs than any other bordello charged in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Miss Laura would collect your $3 and send you on your way.
Supersized in San Antonio
- Published March 13, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Texans don’t call San Antonio’s Witte Museum the “people’s museum” to be folksy.
Back in the Badlands
- Published February 11, 2013
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
He was a 24-year-old New Yorker who wanted to kill a buffalo.
That’s how Theodore Roosevelt first came to the Medora area of Dakota Territory in 1883.
Hoop Dance Dynasty
- Published January 10, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Thanks to the pull of love, one of today’s most acclaimed hoop dancing families in the nation helped to revive the native dance that had all but died by the 1980s.
Comanche Crusader
- Published January 08, 2013
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
The first time LaDonna Harris got involved in a civil rights issue, she was not fighting on behalf of her Comanche people, but for her black babysitter.
Keeping New Mexico’s Pueblo Culture Alive
- Published November 08, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
The Phillips family always loved their annual summer trip to Santa Fe from their California home in the 1950s and ’60s.
Hometown Visionaries
- Published November 05, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
The “Wizard of Oz” taught that you don’t have to go far from home to find your dream. Donna and John Sickles know what that means, and Saint Jo, Texas, is thankful.
Deadwood Strikes Gold with Mining Relic
- Published October 04, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Names can be deceiving.
Rancho Deluxe
- Published October 01, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
The first time Pamela Seager visited the run-down Rancho los Alamitos, she noticed its potential. “There was an integrity,” she says. “It wasn’t tricked up. It had all the good bone structure, but it needed to be polished.”
Galveston’s Guardian Angel
- Published August 28, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Considering all the guardian angels who have looked over the Galveston Railroad Museum for more than a quarter century, where were they in the early morning hours of September 13, 2008, when Hurricane Ike almost destroyed it all?
Healing Hot Springs
- Published September 02, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
The first time Lee and David Manuel laid eyes on Hot Lake Springs, they thought the three-story brick building could star in a horror movie: it had no roof, no floors and no windows. Empty for most of the last 70 years, the building was obscured by a forest of overgrown trees and shrubs, a majority of them long dead.
The Hotel Heroes of Small-Town Texas
- Published July 28, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
They thought they were just buying out the family business—the hotel Joe Duncan’s folks had owned off-and-on for decades.
The Hand Saw Man
- Published August 06, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Gary Barker could tell you how old log cabins fall apart. He had spent a decade as a YMCA camp caretaker in Minnesota, using best guesses, luck and determination to keep the buildings in working order.
But in 2002, a friend told him about a Clearwater County Historical Society workshop that taught people how to restore log cabins from the 1800s. Barker jumped at the opportunity to participate.
Keeping the Peace
- Published June 27, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
It just didn’t seem right that a tombstone was propped up in front of an antique store in Mayer, Arizona.
Singing for His Supper
- Published July 10, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
Cy Scarborough’s heart never was in the “Natural State,” even though he was born and raised in Arkansas 85 years ago.
Cuchillo Crusader
- Published May 24, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
A family of wild turkeys is to thank for Josh Bond and his heroic efforts to save an abandoned town almost everyone has overlooked.
Keepers of the Seed
- Published April 25, 2012
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
A partnership allows the first Cornhuskers to save the ancient Eagle Corn seed.
Women Writing the West
- Published April 26, 2011
- Written by Jana Bommersbach
You could read 100 books on the American West and never hear the voice of a woman.
