True West Magazine
Phil Coe
Have fun trailing the Lone Star outlaw from Texas to Kansas.
Charles E. Rankin, retired editor of the University of Oklahoma Press and astute historian of key figures of the Old West, posed a question a while back when we were having lunch and discussing James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok.
“What the hell was Phil Coe thinking?”
We agreed on the answer.
“He wasn’t.”
John Wesley Hardin
Coe’s decision to try to gun down Hickok on October 5, 1871, in Abilene, Kansas, might not have been the wisest choice for a 32-year-old, but it turned out to be a pretty good career move.
True West Magazine
Franciscan Brother Simeon Schwemberger began his passion for photography of the Four Corners region after his discovery of a surplus large-format 5×7 glass-plate camera at the St. Michaels Mission near Window Rock, Arizona, in 1901. His poignant 1908 photo of a public Jemez Pueblo ceremony in New Mexico reflects his sensitivity for the Native peoples he photographed.
– Courtesy Library of Congress –
For millions of would-be travelers to the American West, 2020 will be remembered as the year that might have been. For those who did venture out West this past year, spontaneity and flexibility were the watch-words for successful heritage travel experiences. While many museums, restaurants, saloons, historic sites, parks, lodges and hotels are still following ever-changing safety guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, intrepid Western travelers quickly realize great photo opportunities, hikes, roadside rests and spontaneous, seize-the-moment experiences.