Two Can Keep a Secret
"In a great many tales of the same type the "curse" on the treasure is human greed. An old proverb, common among prospectors as well as others, reminds us that…
The Code of the West
"In the absence of law and in the social conditions tha obtained, men worked out an extra-legal code or custom by which they guided their actions. This custom is often…
Semi-Arid and Sub-Humid Climate
"There has been a tendency on the part of writers to mix a good deal of sentiment with their history of the West. Because of the peculiar difficulties to be…
The Great American Desert
"The language of the maps shows that the Great American Desert existed in the records from 1820 until 1858. The popular concept of the desert had existed in the written…
Suckers and Pukes
"Through the magic of the Internet, we managed to find an 1854 volume called History of Illinois From Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1857, penned by "the…
Manifest Destiny
"[I]n 1845, [journalist John] O'Sullivan wrote another essay titled Annexation in the Democratic Review, in which he first used the phrase manifest destiny. In this article he urged the U.S. to annex…
Midwestern Folk Wisdom
"In Adams County, Illinois, the mass of advice directed toward the common problems of women reflected the sympathy women felt for one another. A girl entering her first period will have…
Droppings of the Lesser Redneck
"Interstate 80 swings well south of the emigrant trail through the Truckee Dunes today. Only the hiss of windblown sand disturbs the graveyard quiet now. Jeep tracks follow the trail across…
Period Rush
"As a channel evolves into ever more extreme loops, eventually two separate bends may approach one another and join. When this occurs, the river takes the shortcut and establishes a…
An Indian for Breakfast
"'An Indian for breakfast and a pony to ride' was their [105 men who volunteered under Major Ormsby after the killings at William's Station] slogan as the command started across…
Riding Half-Asleep
"Tired out and cramped with cold, we were torpid with what the Bedouin calls El Bakl—la Ragle du Désert, when part of the brain sleeps while the rest is wide awake."
Travel Fatigue
"Hard work had begun to tell upon the temper of the party. The judge, who ever preferred monologue to dialogue, aweary of the rolling prairies and barren plains, the bald and rocky ridges,…
Mile 1716: Ruby Valley
"Ruby Valley is a half-way house, about 300 miles from Great Salt Lake City, and at the same distance from Carson Valley. It derives its name from the small precious stones which…
Adobe
"The very word is Spanish, derived from the Arabic —, meaning 'the brick.' it is known throughout the West, and is written adobies, and pronounced dobies."