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Deadwood Smelter, 1890


Ghost Cowboy is about real tales from the 19th-century American frontier, when the Old West was young. Most of the posts here are actual news items from the 1800s and early 1900s. We'll be adding "new" content every week. Travel with us and sign up for an account, and you'll be able to leave comments and post in our forums. Your trailmasters, Ken in Alabama and Dave in Virginia, don't get to saddle up and vacation out west as often as they'd like, so they started this site. Drop us a note.

frontiersman


Heavily Thrown


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Heavily Thrown: Photograph shows a cowboy on the ground after being thrown from his mount and other cowboys on horseback coming to his aid, on the Turkey Track Ranch in Texas. Photographed by Erwin Evans Smith, c1906.Photograph shows a cowboy on the ground after being thrown from his mount and other cowboys on horseback coming to his aid, on the Turkey Track Ranch in Texas. Photographed by Erwin Evans Smith, c1906. View full image

Four Indians Killed


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THE OSAGES AND THE KANSAS MILITIA -- FOUR INDIANS KILLED BY THE LATTER -- ARMS REFUSED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25. -- Col. Adair, of the Cherokee nation, arrived here to-day in the interests of the Osage Indians, and had a long interview with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He is direct from the Osage nation, and says the fears of hostilities by the Osages against Kansas, as recently expressed by the Governor of that State in a telegram to President Grant, are groundless, nor is it true that those Indians have recently in council declared war.

Today's West


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We had a recent comment that said: "Pictures like this are heartbreaking to me. The world will never be the same. I can't go anywhere without seeing fences and electric poles, highways and factories." Maybe the problem is you're going to the wrong places! The pictures above are from a trip I made not too long ago to Arizona. There are plenty of similar spots in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia etc. Get a map, a cooler, a tent and a sleeping bag and hit the road. Stay away from the national parks and stick to the national forests and forest roads (unpaved). Pics above, from the top: Forest road in Apache-Sitgreaves NF near Big Lake in the White Mountains; Long Park on the Mogollon Rim; Thompson Trail along the West Fork of the Black River in Apache-Sitgreaves; East Clear Creek in Barbershop Canyon on the Mogollon Rim; FR near Big Lake. These pics and more at TurnpikeCruiser.

March through Tesacod Canyon


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March through Tesacod Canyon: Navajo Indians on horseback making their way over the dry, grassy floor of Tesacod Canyon, Arizona. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, 1905.Navajo Indians on horseback making their way over the dry, grassy floor of Tesacod Canyon, Arizona. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, 1905. View full image.

 

Shorpy  The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog!

Juniper Gallery  Fine-art prints of the photos on this site.

Turnpike Cruiser  Photos of the present-day West, with an emphasis on Arizona and Bisbee, and the Canadian Rockies.

PatentRoom  Patent illustrations from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Buy as prints.

Plan59  Retro 1950s illustrations. Cars! Happy wives! Demonic Tots!

Box of Apples  Fruit-crate art from the turn of the century, available as fine-art prints.

AdventureLounge  Aircraft patent drawings and early aviation history. Will it fly?