Archive for May, 2008

Care to try your hand at panning or prospecting for gold?

If you’ve read all the tales of gold rushes, prospectors, and gold panning along rugged mountain streams, maybe you’ve thought about trying your luck at finding some of the gold “in them thar hills”?

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Western writers of note: Love him or not, Louis L’Amour was a force of nature

If and when the average reader thinks of “Westerns” he probably things of a small hand full of writers. Somewhere near the most-recalled names of Western writers would be Louis L’Amour.

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Where and when did ‘the West’ really begin in America?

Maybe you’ve never thought about this question before, but in terms of life in the “Old West,” we need to ask the question I’m asking in the title of this post: Where and when did “the West” begin?

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Have fun with famous TV Western and Western DVD collectibles

One of the most famous TV Westerns of all time was “Bonanza.” The series ran for 14 seasons, from 1959-73, and ran the gamut from TV “horse opera” through serious drama. Who can forget Ben Cartwright (Lorne Green) and his sons (“Hoss” played by Dan Blocker, “Adam,” played by Pernell Roberts, and “Little Joe,” played by Michael Landon) and their life and adventures on the Ponderosa ranch, located in Nevada? Just for fun, here’s a video I found of their rousing opening theme. Enjoy!

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Westward Ho! Would that be expansion or conquest?

The more naive view of westward expansion in the U.S. views it from the standpoint of hearty pioneers risking their lives journeying into unknown wilderness to make a new, better life for themselves and their families.

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Real life in the American Old West — join me on the journey

Real life in that time and those places we know as the American West was mostly not like the movie and television fiction we learn about the Old West. Real life was generally much harder, much duller, hotter, dustier, and had little of the glamor we learn from the movies.

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