The Southwest U.S. is rife with tall tales and legend of lost gold mines, lost treasures, stagecoach and bank robberies and more. One such tale begins in the small community of Castle Gate, Utah. In 1897, the Pleasant Valley Coal Company was shipping its payroll in by rail. On that April day, three cowboys were [...]

The Southwest U.S. is a harsh place — with unpredictable weather conditions, lack of water and food and harsh terrain. It frequently drove men and women to extreme lengths to survive. Perhaps the most famous of these survival stories comes from the wagon train that has come to be known as the Donner Party. [...]

No symbol or legend in the American Southwest is as powerful as that of the cowboy. The cowboy is the quintessential American hero; the embodiment of rugged individualism and independence. Their lonely songs drifted across the range at night to clam the herds. Their faces, weathered by sun and wind, wrinkled and gap-toothed, grin at [...]

Unlike the fictional monsters of the Southwest, the Gila Monster (pronounced HEE-la) is the real thing. Gila Monsters are heavy, slow moving lizards up to 2 feet long that prefers desert terrain. They are the only venomous lizard native to the United States, and are named for the Gila River which flows through New Mexico [...]

Imagine a ruggedly handsome stranger, wearing a white cowboy hat, a clean western shirt and chaps. He’s just saved the town from bunch of bank robbers in an amazing shootout. He mounts his white horse and rides off into the sunset with a hearty Hi Ho, Silver, and Away! That’s our romantic image of the [...]

Some of the Southwest’s more famous characters got famous, not by way of rich gold, silver and copper mines like Ed Schieffelin who struck the famous or infamous (depending on your point of view) Tombstone Silver Lode or by being eccentric like Doc Holiday.  No, some of them become legendary because they were the first.

John [...]

Tales and legends of the Southwest are littered with unique characters, but perhaps none as unique and touching as the story of Prunes and his prospecting partner, Rupe.