There’s a case to be made that the Wild West — that is, the Wild West as it has come to be imagined over the decades — actually began on July 21, 1865. That day, at around 6:00 p.m., “Wild Bill” Hickok stood facing a fellow gambler and gunman, Davis Tutt, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri. Both men drew guns, but only Hickok walked away. It was the first quick-draw shootout in the West, and it was soon turned into legend by a journalist whose tall tale about Hickok would be the inspiration for countless deadly showdowns in the western novels and movies in years to come. In this special publication, we look at both the fact and the fiction of the Wild West — a time of gunfights, gold, gambling, and glory. We explain how the era unfolded and tell the stories of Wild West icons like Buffalo Bill, Butch Cassidy, Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Jesse James, and Lakota chief Sitting Bull. We also celebrate the movies that turned the Wild West into the quintessential American story and spotlight the best surviving ghost towns to visit to relive the Wild West yourself.
LEGENDS OF THE WILD WEST • True Tales of Rebels & Heroes
FACT AND FICTION ON THE FRONTIER • THE ERA OF STAGECOACHES, SALOONS AND SHOOT-OUTS WAS BRIEF, BUT IT ENDURED AS MYTH.
HOW THE WEST GOT WILD • GUNFIGHTS, GOLD, GAMBLING, AND GLORY—THE MAKING OF A STORIED AMERICAN ERA.
THE LAWLESS LAND • AMERICAN DREAMS AND AMERICAN DESTINY MET ON THE WIDE-OPEN PLAINS. IT WAS AN EXPLOSIVE TIME… WHILE IT LASTED.
HOW DANGEROUS WAS THE REGION? • Dodge City wasn’t as deadly a place as you might think.
GOING FOR THE GOLD • A momentous discovery in California set off the largest migration in U.S. history.
STORIED DAYS • A DECADE-BY-DECADE TIME LINE OF THE WILD WEST.
THE 1860S CONQUEST AND CONFLICT
THE 1870S THE WAY OF THE GUN
THE 1880S OUTLAW’S FATE
THE 1890S CLOSING FRONTIER
A LANDSCAPE OF INNOVATION • FIVE INVENTIONS THAT OPENED UP THE WEST AND CHANGED HISTORY, FROM STURDY WHEELS AND DEADLY WEAPONS TO WIND POWER, “THORNY WIRE” AND A WIDE-BRIMMED HAT.
TOP GUNS • The Colt “Peacemaker” wasn’t the only gun to make history in the West. Here are some others:
TRUE STORIES AND TALL TALES • VILLAINS, HEROES AND THE REBELLIOUS TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED.
WILD BILL’S DEADLY DUEL • A STORY OF DANGEROUS DESPERADOS, HANDSOME HEROES AND THE PRICE OF FAME ON THE VIOLENT FRONTIER.
THE LEGENDS THAT WON THE WEST • EVEN AS THE HISTORY OF THE FRONTIER TOOK SHAPE, WRITERS IN THE EAST CREATED AN ALTERNATE REALITY IN HUGELY POPULAR DIME NOVELS THAT TURNED REAL-LIFE CHARACTERS LIKE BUFFALO BILL CODY AND KIT CARSON INTO HEROES.
WILD BUNCH 10 ICONS OF AN EPIC AGE • HEROES AND VILLAINS, FAMED AND NOTORIOUS, THEIR EXPLOITS HAVE ENDURED AS BOTH HISTORY AND MYTH.
KIT CARSON
DOC HOLLIDAY
JESSE JAMES
BILLY THE KID
JOHN WESLEY HARDIN
BUFFALO BILL
ANNIE OAKLEY
BAT MASTERSON
BASS REEVES
BUTCH CASSIDY
FRONTIER FAME • 12 OTHERS WHO WROTE THEIR NAMES INTO THE HISTORY OF THE WEST.
‘A WARRIOR I HAVE BEEN’ • LAKOTA CHIEF SITTING BULL FIERCELY RESISTED THOSE WHO WOULD TAKE HIS PEOPLE’S LAND, UNTIL HE COULD RESIST NO LONGER.
THE DEATH OF SITTING BULL • A scuffle leads to gunshots and the killing of a preeminent Native American chief.
EYEWITNESS TO AN ERA • C.S. FLY SAW THE GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL TAKE PLACE RIGHT OUTSIDE HIS PHOTO STUDIO IN TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA, BUT HE ALSO TRAVELED FAR AND WIDE TO CAPTURE THE HISTORY OF THE WILD WEST.
GAMES OF CHANCE • GAMBLING WAS A WAY OF LIFE FOR THE RISK-TAKERS WHO POPULATED THE WEST. BUT IT COULD ALSO LEAD TO A SUDDEN DEMISE.
LASTING LEGACY...