Dr. History's Tales of the Old West

The City of Rocks was feared due to Indian attacks and was a favorite place for robbers to hide and bury their loot. Some never returned; is the treasure still there waiting to be discovered? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arizona, the Dakotas, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Idaho, California and Wyoming. How did they get their names? Some were Indian or Spanish names, others from the topography and others were named by Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bill Murdock and his gang agreed to guide ten heavily loaded wagons to San Antonio. It was discovered the wagons contained treasure. Murdock was the lone survivor after his gang robbed the wagons and were then killed by Indians. The treasure remains hidden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Billy Barker was one of dozens of English sailors who jumped ship in search of gold. At the bottom of a fifty foot hole they struck gold and Barkerville became a boom town. Billy lost his fortune and died a poor man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A lost wagon train in Oregon sparked a gold rush. Three young men picked up some unusual looking pebbles in a creek, they carried them in a blue bucket back to the wagon train. Only later was it discovered to be gold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Mississippi River was the scene of many riverboat disasters including the worst maritime disaster in the United States. In 1865, the boilers exploded on the Sultana killing hundreds of recently released Civil War prisoners and passengers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The scourge of the West, it attacked whole tribes and left few survivors. As trade increased so did the disease, as trappers, immigrants and Indians traded goods that were often infected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the Figure Four, he became a Deputy U.S. Marshall. He tracked outlaws, horse and cattle thieves, put many behind bars including a notorious "Quail Netter". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By age fifteen he could ride and rope with the best and survived his first cattle stampede. While working for the Figure Four he witnessed a deadly gun battle and had some fun with an Eastern greenhorn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The San Antonio to San Diego mail line was a true test for the passengers who didn't know if they would be in a stage or on a mule. Poor shelter and food and not knowing when or if they would arrive at their destination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Described as "a mass of muscle and sinew of wonderful courage and faithful", he mastered the skills of hunting, tracking and warfare. A Medal of Honor recipient, he advised President Grover Cleveland, Cochise and Geronimo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At 99, he was the last of the Lewis and Clark expedition. His journal was the first published account, seven years before Lewis and Clark’s journals. He served in the War of 1812, worked with Daniel Boone, married at age 58 and had seven children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A rodent, the largest in America, can weigh from forty to one hundred pounds. His chisel-like teeth can down huge trees and can build a dam as long as a thousand feet and fourteen feet high, big enough for John Colter to hide from Indians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a Texas Ranger, Gault helped stop Bonnie and Clyde's reign of terror. Loyal, modest and "unbreakable", he solved cases of murder, bank robbery and cattle rustling, one of the greatest Texas Rangers of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whiskey was used as a trade good by early explorers and immigrants. "Rectified" whiskey contained tobacco juice, kerosene or grain alcohol to water it down and sell more at $30 a gallon, $900 in today’s money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She got lost after robbing a stage and was arrested, while in prison she became one of the most famous women in Arizona. A petite lady or a dangerous outlaw? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Four hundred Brul'es Indians on war ponies demanded food at the Pine Ridge Reservation. With a force of a few troops and 100 Oglala Sioux Police, agent McGillicuddy stood with his watch in hand and gave the war party five minutes to leave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Horror week along the Oregon Trail in August 1862. A narrow passage between the Snake River and lava hills provided a good place for Indian attacks on wagon trains, though most pioneers died from disease or accidents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The biggest outlaw gang, they robbed, stole thousands of cattle and killed at least thirty five men. Wyatt Earp and his six-shooter ended the career of some of those outlaws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sacajawea helped Lewis and Clark, Elizabeth Custer was with her husband at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Natawista played an important role at Fort Union and Medora helped her husband run his businesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

140 years after Billy's death, an interview published in the Las Vegas Gazette was discovered. He was in a Santa Fe Jail at the time and appeared cheerful, possibly because he was digging a tunnel to escape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thirty five Chippewa Indians held off several hundred troopers in the last conflict between Indians and white settlers in North America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He fought in the Battle of the Little Big Horn and was accused of killing Custer, which he both denied and claimed. He bravely fought for his people and country, converted to Christianity but never lost his hatred for the whites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1790's there were thousands of wild horses in the Southwest. Nolan traded with Indians and drove herds to Eastern buyers. His final expedition ended with a bullet in his head from Spanish soldiers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When gambler A.J. Hunt shot Private Emit Miller, he faced the wrath of the entire 4th U.S. Cavalry. Under cover of darkness the troopers stormed the jail and escorted Hunt outside where his life came to a deadly end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices