Two centuries of Old West heritage awaits discovery across the Natural State.
Fifty years ago, a one-eyed deputy U.S. marshal for Judge Isaac Parker’s court left Fort Smith, Arkansas—with a “spitfire of a girl” named Mattie Ross and a Texas Ranger (who could sing and pick a guitar like nobody’s business but couldn’t act a lick)—on a manhunt for Lucky Ned Pepper and his gang, which included the low-down skunk who had murdered Mattie’s pa.
It was a pretty short trip. Cross the Arkansas River on a ferry (or swim it on your white-footed horse Little Blackie), head south to the Winding Stair Mountains in Indian Country (today’s Oklahoma), fill your hand you @#**&@*@*, and return to Fort Smith.
True Grit remains Charles Portis’s most acclaimed and most popular novel—even if Norwood is a lot funnier. First serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, True Grit was published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster in 1968. Director Henry Hathaway turned it into a hit movie the following year, with John Wayne as Rooster, Kim Darby as Mattie, Robert Duvall as Pepper, and Glen Campbell as LaBoeuf. Years later, at a concert at a casino outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico Campbell prefaced his singing of True Grit with: “I had never acted before, and those of you who’ve seen the movie know my record remains intact.”
In 2010, the Coen Brothers released a remake. The original was filmed in Colorado; the sequel used New Mexico. Neither location resembles Arkansas or Oklahoma. The 50th anniversary puts True Grit back in the news, but Arkansas has an older anniversary. Two centuries ago, on March 2, 1819, President James Monroe signed the act that established Arkansas Territory.
EARLY ARKANSAS DAYS
この記事は True West の September 2019 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は True West の September 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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FIREARMS COLT WALKER 47
THE LEGENDARY HANDGUN THAT REALLY WON THE WEST
HERITAGE TRAVE
THE AMERICAN WEST IN ALL ITS GLORY OUR ANNUAL FAVORITES LIST CELEBRATES DESTINATIONS ACROSS THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
Wild Turkey, and Not the Drinkin' Kind
The actual bird was a favorite of pioneers.
THE PASSION PROJECTS OF THE MODERN WESTERN
A YEAR OF UNDERRATED EXCELLENCE
WESTERN BOOKS THEN AND NOW
THE STATE OF WESTERN HISTORY AND FICTION PUBLISHING IN 2024 IS ONE OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
SAMUEL WALKER VALIANT WARRIOR
While a prisoner at the castle of Perote, Walker was put to work raising a flagpole. At the bottom of the hole, Walker placed a Yankee dime, vowing to someday come back and retrieve it, at the same time exacting revenge on his Mexican captors. In the summer of 1847, when Walker's mounted riflemen returned and routed Santa Anna's guerillas, the young captain kept his promise and got his dime back.
THE BATTLE OF CENTRALIA
ON September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson and about 80 men took over the small railroad village of Centralia, looting stores and discovering a barrel of whiskey that they hauled out into the street. Wild enough when sober, they soon were roaring drunk.
THE MAN WHO SHOOTS THE WEST
Jay Dusard is a living American photographer who has made Arizona his home for over 60 years, seeing it first in 1960 on a visit, moving here for good in 1963.
A TRUE WESTERNER INDEED PHIL SPANGENBERGER 1940-2024
Spangenberger had Nevada trained to bow by the legendary horse trainer, Glenn Randall, who trained Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion, Rex Allen's Koko and the Ben Hur chariot horses, among other great equines.
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
