The Prairie Traveler Handbook offers a fascinating picture of life on the trails during America’s 19th century westward expansion.  Read more from > Prairie Traveler handbook led adventurers across continent

Travelers across the Great Plains found it was nothing like a real desert.  Read more from > Great American Desert label shaped American expansion for decades

The 1840s-1860s saw the face of America change as hearty pioneers moved our whole civilization westward along the Oregon Trail.  Read more from > Oregon Trail carried hundreds of thousands into new lives

Today’s dude ranches struggle to get up to speed and keep attracting today’s dudes to enjoy our Old West heritage.  Read more from > Dude ranches now add swimming pools to Old West experience

Economic hardships drove many 19th Century pioneers westward.  Read more from > Hard times of 1830s launched first wagon trains westward

When I was a small boy, we made a few trips to visit my paternal grandparents in southeastern Colorado and went out of town about 20-25 miles to the original family homestead and were shown the remains of the house my father grew up in — a genuine sod house. The house (completely gone except  Read more from > Not so long ago, people on the more remote Plains still lived in sod houses