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Sheep Camp, Alaska


Ghost Cowboy is about real tales from the 19th-century American frontier, when the Old West was young. Most of the posts here are actual news items from the 1800s and early 1900s. We'll be adding "new" content every week. Travel with us and sign up for an account, and you'll be able to leave comments and post in our forums. Your trailmasters, Ken in Alabama and Dave in Virginia, don't get to saddle up and vacation out west as often as they'd like, so they started this site. Drop us a note.

frontiersman


Deadwood Parade


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Deadwood ParadeDeadwood Parade: Bystanders in the mining town of Deadwood in the Dakota Territory watch a group of uniformed men from the Grand Lodge I.O.O.F. [Independent Order of Odd Fellows] parade down the street on May 21, 1890. Photographed by John C. H. Grabill.

Deadwood ParadeDeadwood Parade Detail: This detail shows somber-faced spectators. Come on folks, it's a parade. Note the Opera House poster on the wall advertising the Eyers Sisters and the Colored Comedy Co.

A DESPERADO SHOT.


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Newspaper Account / Nov. 17, 1888

VINITA, Indian Territory, Nov. 17 -- The notorious Kep Queen, from Texas and Colorado, was killed near Claremore, in the Cherokee Nation, Last night by the District Sheriff, E. Sanders, and posse, and his body was brought to this city to-day. A week ago it became known that Queen and some of his outlaw followers were in the city. They were finally discovered in a cabin about a mile from the Dog Creek Court House. Last night the Sheriff made up a party and, going to the place, they secreted themselves about the premises.

Meeting in the Copper Queen mine


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Meeting in the Copper Queen mineMeeting in the Copper Queen mine: Freemasons from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Arizona meet in a cave in the mine of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company at Bisbee, Arizona, Nov. 12 1897. Photograph by A. Miller.

THE WEALTH OF ARIZONA.


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EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND THE PRESENT RICH MINES.

THE INDIAN RACES -- FERTILE FIELDS AND GRAZING LANDS -- A TRIP INTO THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH -- THE DAYS OF THE STAGE COACH

Newspaper Account / Dec 22, 1890

TUCSON, Arizona, Dec. 21. -- The word contrast fails to convey any conception of the differences to be found between Arizona and anything in the East. Though smaller than New-Mexico by 5,000,000 acres, Arizona is still large enough to contain the States of New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland combined, and one of its counties, Yavapai, is about as large as the State of Maine. These contrasts are not confined to mere matters of size; they are found in every department of natural science and civilization.

 

Shorpy  The 100-Year-Old Photo Blog!

Juniper Gallery  Fine-art prints of the photos on this site.

Turnpike Cruiser  Photos of the present-day West, with an emphasis on Arizona and Bisbee, and the Canadian Rockies.

PatentRoom  Patent illustrations from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Buy as prints.

Plan59  Retro 1950s illustrations. Cars! Happy wives! Demonic Tots!

Box of Apples  Fruit-crate art from the turn of the century, available as fine-art prints.

AdventureLounge  Aircraft patent drawings and early aviation history. Will it fly?