Kokopelli is one of the most common sites in the Southwest. Venerated by many of the Native American cultures in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada, Kokopelli (pronounced coke-a-pellie) is a fertility deity, prankster, healer, storyteller and the spirit of music. This joyous figure, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (and in earlier [...]

The State of Arizona recently celebrated its 100 anniversary, however, the road to statehood was a rocky one. In 1901, the Arizona Territory was still a rough and ready part of the world. Outlaws, rustlers, bandits and gangs loved the remoteness, the rough terrain (literally hundreds of place to hide), and the lack of law [...]

“The good people in this world are very far from being satisfied with each other and my arms are the best peacemaker.” ~ Samuel Colt (1852) It would be impossible to talk about the shaping of the West and the Southwest without mentioning guns. Guns were a daily necessity, not just against people as Samuel [...]

Southwestern holiday traditions are strongly influence by the Hispanic culture since large parts of New Mexico and Arizona belonged to Spain for many years. Those settlers and their descendants retained the traditions of their homeland and pass them on from generation to generation. If you visit the Southwest during the holiday season, you will mostly [...]

Charles Poston: Father of Arizona The state of Arizona owes a great debt to Charles Debrille Poston, a Kentucky lawyer with a vision of Utopia. He was an explorer and entrepreneur, politician and Indian agent, expert on agriculture and irrigation and a conservationist, author, poet and eccentric. Because of his role in convincing Congress to [...]

Like many characters attracted to the dangers of the Southwest, Sarah Bowman, nicknamed “The Great Western” was larger than life — literally. She was 6 feet 2 inches tall — highly unusual when a man’s average height in that day and age was 5′ 5″. In addition, Sarah was said to be an extremely attractive [...]

During Colorado’s halcyon days, when gold and silver poured from the mountains, there was no greater triumph and no greater fall than that of Horace Austin Warner (“Haw”) Tabor, Augusta Tabor, Baby Doe Tabor, and the Matchless Mine. Throughout the late 1850s, ’60s and ’70s, Horace Tabor and his wife Augusta, were respectable citizens of [...]

Rising to fame through her association with Doc Holliday, the notorious “soiled dove”, Big Nose Kate, didn’t start life as a prostitute. In fact, she was born Mary Catherine Haroney to a prominent family from Hungary. Her father was appointed personal physician to Mexico’s Emperor, Maximillian, in 1862. The family left Hungary and settled in [...]

Of all the unusual stories that have come out of the Southwest, the horrible experience of one young girl, Olive Oatman, is one of the most exceptional. In 1853, the Oatmans — Olive, her six siblings and mother and father — left their farm in Illinois to join a wagon train destined for the Colorado [...]

Known as the toughest dentist in the West, Dr. John Henry “Doc” Holliday, helped shape the legends of the most lawless town in the U.S. — Tombstone. Wyatt Earp once said of Holliday, “He was the most skillful gambler, and nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw.” Holliday didn’t start out as [...]