Keeping the Old West Alive

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Historical Westerns

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Historical Fiction by Bob Turpin

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About the Old West

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The Old West and frontier history are two of the most important times in our lives. It seems to be slowly wasting away, forgotten, and being pushed aside, being replaced by make-believe space aliens, monsters from the dark ages, and ghosts and goblins that rip people to shreds or tear them limb from limb. And there’s more: devils from the underworld like flying fishes, dragons, werewolves, and vampires. It is a

shame that most youngsters today are no longer interested in the excitement and actions of what really made this country so great.

Consider Samuel Colt. He made every man on the western frontier, no matter how large or how small in reputation or size, or how brave or cowardly, equal with his invention of his famous handgun, the colt six-shooter. If you were fast enough with this outstanding weapon, any man, regardless of his demeanor, temperament, whether famous or unknown, could be brought down, so to speak, to another man’s level.

How many youngsters are familiar with Dick Wick Hall? He was one of the most fascinating characters to emerge from the turn-of-the-century years in the Southwest. His incredible yarns put a tiny Arizona town on the map and kept it there during his fabulous lifetime. Here’s the story:

In 1904 a woman named Grace Salome Pratt took off her shoes because her feet were hot and sweating. She found the sand was burning her feet and it caused her to dance around like a witch doctor. This was when Dick Wick Hall named the town Salome “Where She Danced” Arizona. Some thought Dick Wick Hall did this because Grace Salome Pratt’s actions paralleled those of the biblical Salome who danced for her king. Although there was no written connection between the biblical Salome and the Arizona Salome, it is thought that Dick Wick Hall knew the biblical story and tied it together with the naming of Salome, Arizona.

When I was a young fellow, playing cowboys and Indians was a big part of my growing up. Even back then we didn’t call our Indian opponent “Tow-Ka,” The Sioux Indians called the Crow Indians from Montana “Tow-Ka” which in the Sioux language means enemy. Tow-Ka seems to have a better ring to it than “enemy” has. Somehow I feel that shouting “Tow-Ka,” “Tow-Ka, “Tow-Ka” while playing cowboys and Indians would have been more fun and have had a better sound to it than saying, “enemy, enemy, enemy.” And while I am talking about Indians, how many of today’s youngsters, or even adults, know that the Crow Indians served as scouts for the U.S. Army during the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian wars which took place between 1876 and 1879?

How many people realize that their ancestors made real, true-life history, that their great great grandparents, great grandparents, and in some cases grandparents, were far braver and stronger than today’s vampire slayers and monster killers? Our forebears learned how to withstand and survive whatever nature threw at them and most of the time it was tough for them to endure freezing temperatures and blazing heat. There was no “central heat” or “air conditioning” in those days.

Despite great hardships, our forebears enjoyed all of God’s blessings through sickness and health, and bad times and good times as they lived life, all the while forging our country to give us a good place to live.

Now-a-days it seems more important to our youngsters to learn how to slay a dragon, or kill a werewolf, vampire, or some other devilish creature bent on tearing us to pieces and tossing our body parts to the wind, or worse. But what about our real-life brave men and women of yesteryear who fought savage Indians, murdering outlaws, fierce grizzly bears, hungry mountain lions, and a host of other frontier dangers day in and day out?

It is one of my deepest hopes that today’s western and frontier fans everywhere will work hard to help preserve our history, and make sure that the Old West remains alive and well for generations to come. Then, just in case our young ’uns decide one day to remind themselves where they really came from and why, they are able to through the history and events preserved by us today.

Bob Turpin is a historian, researcher, and a leading authority on the Old West. To learn more about outlaws, lawmen, horse thieves, and other forgotten characters of the Old West, visit Bob's website at http:www.historicalfictionbybobturpin.com/

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By Bob Turpin

Keeping the Old West Alive