Search

In this article author talks about several style marvel at Blair Buswell's magnificent monuments and extraordinary statues. Topics include focuses on Pioneer Courage Park as the Nebraska community served as the eastern terminus and outfitting center for many westward bound pioneers and to honor its legacy and commemorate all those who dared trek the overland trails.

The article focuses on the Ezra Meeker was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man. Topics include Meeker was a man stalked by fame, though he also worked at stalking; the Oregon Trail split from the California Trail in southern Idaho and became noticeably steeper; and Ezra reflected that most emigrants who lost draft animals had failed to properly care for them.

In early October 1846 James F. Reed was banished from George Donner's wagon train and set out across the Nevada desert for California, reaching Sutter's Fort in the Sacramento Valley [...]

Westerners in the 19th century, at least most of those we remember today, were men of action. They roamed the Plains and the Rockies. They trapped and hunted. They fought [...]

The article looks at how pioneer farmers in the American Great Plains relied on cornmeal for their diet and adapted their cooking skills to the availability of ingredients. It notes the dependability and versatility of cornmeal which can used to make mush and squash bread, pie-crusts, and pancakes. It also mentions the toppings for cornbread, the recipes contributed by various national and ethnic groups, and ways pioneers store, preserve, and cook local foods. INSET: Octagon City, Kansas.

The article describes the disaster that struck two Mormon handcart companies while crossing the American Great Plains to Utah Territory in 1856. It discusses the success of three companies in reaching the Great Salt Lake City in September and the efforts launched Brigham Young to rescue the Willie and Martin handcart companies. It also highlights the Mormon pioneers' battle with diseases, hunger, fatigue and cold temperature during the travels and cites the death of at least 240 people. INSET: Modern Handcarting.

The article features William Averill Comstock, grandnephew of novelist James Fenimore Cooper and favorite scout of George Armstrong Custer in 1867. Comstock was born in Michigan in 1842, the son of Michigan lawyer and state legislator who had built a fortune in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan with Indian and military supply trade. He chose to live as a fearless warrior who often dressed in buckskins and moccasins. In January 1868, a strange episode threatened Comstock's scouting career.

Profiles José Policarpio Rodriguez, a frontier scout in Texas. Personal background; Account of Rodriguez' 1849 trip with the Whiting-Smith expedition to establish a road from San Antonio to El Paso in Texas; Challenges faced by Rodriguez and his group from nature and Comanche Indians during their expedition.

A CENTURY AND a half ago, a large area of the central United States -- including most of modern-day Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, and portions of North Dakota and […]

Describes how Willie Keil Jr.'s dead body saved the band of his father, Willie Keil Sr., from being massacred by Indians in 1855 during their westward advance through the Oregon trail. Preservation of Willie Keil Jr.'s body; Funeral rituals conducted; Impact on the Indians of a German dirge composed by the elder Keil; Settlement at the Aurora-Bethel Colony in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

This section offers news briefs related to pioneers in the Western U.S. Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo died of pneumonia in 1909 and 100 years later, his great-grandson Harlyn Geronimo filed suit against the government, Yale University and the Skull and Bones society to recover Geronimo's remains and return them to western New Mexico. The Northfield Historical Society Museum has a skeleton that was said to be of Samuel Wells but researcher James Bailey said that DNA from the skeleton did not mach DNA donated by Samuel's great-grand nephew Joe Wells.

Relates the story of Azuba Moncrief, a widow who became a successful pioneer in Nebraska during the 1880s. Background on the marital relations of Moncrief with her husband, William T. Moncrief; Speculations surrounding the death of William T. Moncrief in 1883; Information on the farming legacy left by Moncrief to her children upon her death in March 1895.

Profiles Arizona pioneer Josephine Brawley Hughes. Role of Hughes in Arizona in politics, education and religion; Work of Hughes; Biographical information.

The article profiles Joel "Buckskin Jo" Phillips, an Illinois native who moved to Utah and later to Iowa after his father died of cholera. Topics discussed included the truth behind the supposed kidnapping by Native Americans as they were on their way to Utah with other Mormon relatives, his farming and military stint under General Sully and the talents of the Army scout.

An interview with Western history author Will Bagley about his book "South Pass: Gateway to a Continent" is presented. He shares his views on the importance of writing about the overland trails, the mid-19th century passage through the Rocky Mountains, and the experiences of emigrants and pioneers traveling to states like California and Utah. He also cites the inspiration for the book and some revelations about South Pass.

Several letters to the editor are presented including "A Tale of Two Sadies" by Roger Jay in the October 2014 issue and "Wynkoop's Gamble to End War" by Louis Kraft and the Pioneer and Settlers article of David McCormick on Italian Jesuits in the American West in the August 2014 issue.

The article features Oregon pioneer John Beeson, who was among the few whites to speak out for American Indian rights in Oregon Territory in the mid-1800s. It claims that Beeson was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Stoke Rochford, England on September 15, 1803. In 1857, Beeson self-published his book titled "A Plea for the Indians: With Facts and Features of the Late War in Oregon."

The author probes into the true identity of Eunice Gray, the 82-year-old owner and operator of the Waco hotel who was speculated by many as Etta Place, girlfriend of infamous outlaw, the Sundance Kid. He recounts the intrigues and parallels of events which bemused "Forth Worth Press" city editor Delbert Willis and other historians about Gray's mystery. Based on probate records, the author knew that Gray's real name was Ermine McEntire and that she had no encounter with the Sundance Kid or his friend Butch Cassidy.

The article features frontiersman Andy Hall. It notes that Hall was born in Scotland in 1848 and emigrated to the U.S. with his mother and two siblings in 1854 to settle in Toulon County, Illinois. It relates the experiences of Hall during an expedition with Major John Wesley Powell including his intervention in a brawl between two fellow expedition members. It also recalls how Hall, being a shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo & Co. bank, tried to prevent a stagecoach robbery until death.

The article offers information on the life of Marquis de Morès, a frontier ranchman in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. A graduate of the French military academy of St. Cyr and the cavalry school at Saumur, the marquis had arrived in the region in March 1883 with his German-American wife Medora von Hoffman. It was his intention to turn the western Dakotas into a cattle kingdom by building slaughterhouses and shipping refrigerated beef to Chicago and New York.

A photograph showing five charter members and officers of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers, which was established on January 21, 1888, including William F. Holcomb, John Brown Jr., and George Miller, is presented.

The article reflects on how frontiersman Kit Carson was welcomed by the people of New Mexico. It notes that the state did not offer any help in the restoration of the Carson house and museum in Taos Pueblo. Carson was seen as a villain due to his involvement in the Navajo War and Long Walk. It stresses that Carson must not be blamed since the war was actually shortened because of him. It mentions that the state had supported villain Billy the Kid instead.