The Wild West Extravaganza

When did the Old West truly begin, and when did it finally come to an end? Some trace the Wild West’s start to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, while others think it was much late,r as cowboys started trailing herds out of Texas. As for the end, many point to 1890, when the U.S. Census Bureau declared the frontier closed and Wounded Knee marked the last big clash between the Indigenous and the U.S....

When most folks think about the Old West, they almost immediately envision daring lawmen and bloodthirsty outlaws. But did you know that the frontier was filled with ordinary people who also lived truly extraordinary lives? Today, we’ll shine a light on four such characters. First up is the legendary fur trapper, James Beckwourth. Born a slave, Beckwourth trapped beaver with Kit Carson and Jim Bri...

At just 21 years old, Dan Bogan was already facing a death sentence. After a drunken rampage in Texas ended in murder, he and his partner were found guilty and ordered to hang, but Dan wasn’t the type to go quietly. In a chaotic courtroom escape, he grabbed a guard’s pistol, fired wildly, and leapt to freedom out of a second‑story window. From there, his life turned into pure frontier legend. Usin...

Did Bounty Hunters really exist in the Old West, or is that just another invention of Hollywood? The truth is a lot more complicated than the movies make it seem. Law enforcement in the Old West was patchwork at best, often made up of part-time sheriffs, underpaid marshals, and ramshackle jails. With courts just as unreliable, ordinary citizens and private companies like Wells Fargo began offering...

Barney Riggs was one of the Old West’s most notorious and controversial gunfighters. Born in Arkansas in 1856, Riggs moved to Texas as a child, where violence quickly became a family tradition. At just 18, he killed a friend in what was called an accidental shooting. By his twenties, Riggs was in Arizona, working as a cowboy, stealing horses, and allegedly committing multiple murders. After being...

Who was the deadliest gunfighter of the Old West? Legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James all have larger-than-life reputations, but the truth is often a lot messier. Join me as we break down the facts and attempt to separate myth from reality on the West’s most notorious shootists. We’ll talk confirmed kills, unverified stories, and the wildest rumors around names like Johnn...

On June 27th, 1874, a handful of buffalo hunters found themselves surrounded by hundreds of Comanche at a place called Adobe Walls. Outnumbered more than twenty to one, the odds of survival looked slim. Nevertheless, it was here that Billy Dixon stepped forward and made what’s become known as the “shot of the century,” dropping a mounted warrior at nearly 1,500 yards. Join me as we examine the lif...

What really happened to Jesse Evans, the outlaw who once rode with Billy the Kid and helped ignite the Lincoln County War? He shot up dance halls, rustled cattle, and left a bloody trail from New Mexico to Texas, only to vanish without a trace. And to this day, nobody knows his true fate. Was Jesse Evans really a childhood friend of Billy the Kid? Did he spend his final years as Joseph Hines in Fl...

For generations, rumors have swirled that Old West outlaw Billy the Kid’s grave at Fort Sumner was swept away by a massive flood. But is there any truth to the legend, or does Billy still rest beneath his famous gravestone? Also discussed are fellow Lincoln County Regulators Charlie Bowdre and Tom Folliard. Chasing Billy YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@chasingbilly Billy the Kid’s Grave by Davi...

Was José Chavez y Chavez really part Navajo? And what about Billy the Kid’s famous escape from Lincoln? Was that Young Guns 2 scene with the pistol in the outhouse true, or did he overpower his guard? Who actually killed Deputy Carlyle at White Oaks? These are just a few of the questions I discussed with historian and author James B. Mills. His book, Billy the Kid: Bandido Simpatico, is one of the...

James Beckwourth lived one of the most extraordinary lives in American frontier history. Born the son of a white plantation owner and an enslaved Black woman, Beckwourth was freed by his father and set out to make his own way in the West. He trapped beaver alongside legendary mountain men like Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, fought in battles ranging from the swamps of Florida to the Pacific coast, an...

Did Pat Garrett receive the $500 bounty on Billy the Kid’s head? For years, rumors have spread that Garrett was denied payment because he failed to prove the Kid’s death. But how true are these claims? Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest   Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/   Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/   Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh....

Bigfoot Wallace is one of those figures who looms so large in Texas history that it can be tough to separate the facts from the tall tales. Born in Virginia and hardened by tragedy, Wallace headed to Texas with vengeance on his mind. What followed was a life filled with brutal frontier battles, narrow escapes, and enough wild stories to fill volumes. As a Texas Ranger, Wallace faced down Comanche...

Did Pat Garrett’s widow really claim that her husband helped to fake the demise of Billy the Kid? What about Garrett’s daughter, Elizabeth? Did she really give an interview in the 1980s saying the same thing? Endless online debates and unreliable sources have fueled questions such as these. But what does the historical evidence actually say? Today, we’ll examine the affidavit of Homer Overton, the...

John Tornow, also known as the Wild Man of the Wynoochee, became one of the most feared and hunted men in the Pacific Northwest during the early 1900s. Born in Iowa in 1880, he grew up in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, where he developed an unmatched skill with a rifle and a deep love for the wilderness. What began as the life of a quiet hermit spiraled into a story of family feuds, tragic deaths...

Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton was more than a mascot. He was a real man who claimed to have lived one of the most violent and extraordinary lives of the Old West. Born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, Eaton moved with his family to Kansas, where he witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of six vigilantes. From that moment on, young Frank dedicated his life to revenge. By the time he was fifteen,...

If you grew up watching westerns in the late 80s and early 90s, Young Guns II was probably on your list, but how much of what we saw on screen was true? Today, we dig into the real history behind Billy the Kid and Young Guns II with Dan LeFebvre, the award-winning host of the Based on a True Story Podcast. Together, we explore questions such as whether cattle baron John Chisum actually placed a bo...

Archie Clement was one of the most notorious guerrilla fighters to emerge from Missouri during the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Barely over five feet tall and weighing around 130 pounds, Clement quickly became feared across the state for his ruthlessness and intensity. Riding with William “Bloody Bill” Anderson, Jesse James, and Frank James, he participated in some of the most infamous raids...

Jack Hinson, known as “Old Jack,” began the Civil War as a wealthy Tennessee planter with no intentions to enlist in the Civil War. That changed in 1862 when Union troops executed his sons and displayed their heads on his plantation gateposts. At 57 years old, Hinson armed himself with a custom .50 caliber rifle and launched a one-man war of revenge. From hidden ridges above the Tennessee and Cumb...

The Battle of White Bird Canyon was one of the most lopsided defeats the U.S. Army ever suffered in the American West. On June 17, 1877, Captain David Perry led roughly one hundred soldiers and scouts into Idaho’s White Bird Canyon, believing they could quickly subdue the Nez Perce. Instead, the Nez Perce delivered a crushing defeat. In less than an hour, 34 soldiers lay dead as dozens more were f...

In October of 1884, 19-year-old Elfego Baca made history during the legendary Frisco Shootout. After pinning on a fake badge and arresting a drunken cowboy named Charlie McCarty, Baca found himself surrounded by dozens of angry ranch hands. The standoff escalated into a 33-hour siege in which as many as 80 cowboys fired more than 4,000 rounds into the adobe building where Baca took cover. Remarkab...

Teton Ridge has snagged the film and TV rights to Larry McMurtry’s legendary Lonesome Dove series, promising a fresh take on the Pulitzer Prize-winning saga of retired Texas Rangers on a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The original adaptation in 1989 became a Western classic, but will the remake live up to its legacy? And did you know that many of the characters and events in Lonesome...

The Nez Perce War erupted in 1877 after decades of broken treaties, stolen land, and violent confrontations between settlers and the Nez Perce people. At the center of this struggle was Chief Joseph, a leader who had spent years trying to keep peace, only to be forced into leading his people on one of the greatest fighting retreats in American history. This is not just a story of betrayal, courage...

Mysterious Dave Mather was one of the Old West’s most elusive figures. Born in Connecticut and orphaned at a young age, Mather drifted west, where his life became a blur of gunfights, gambling halls, and questionable alliances. He wore a badge in towns like Dodge City and East Las Vegas, but just as often found himself standing trial for murder. Known for surviving situations that should have ende...

Tom “Bear River” Smith tamed one of the wildest towns in the Old West without firing a single shot. Armed with nothing more than a badge, a banjo, and a pair of fists that made even the toughest cowboys think twice, Smith brought order to Abilene, Kansas, at a time when cattle drives and rowdy trail hands turned the streets into chaos. But how did a man who hated using guns manage to subdue some o...