Established on Colorado’s southeastern plain around 1891, this Otero County ghost town stands between the small towns of Rocky Ford and Manzanola. The settlement sprang up around a railroad siding bearing the name Weitzer. Its namesake, Frederick Weitzer, was an American of German descent who lived in Rocky Ford with his family. Weitzer had managed …
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Fed up with being shadowed, badman Edward Moore confronted Nevada City lawman William Kilroy, gunned him down and headed for the hills. Prospectors and merchants settled Nevada, California, during the 1849 gold rush but didn’t settle on a name until 1864 when they chose Nevada City to avoid confusion with the neighboring state. By August …
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In 1871 ambushers struck a California-bound coach in Arizona Territory and murdered six of the eight people aboard. Were Indians really the culprits? In the 1870s Arizona Territory could be a hard place to live and to stay alive. Indians, particularly Apaches, periodically went on rampages, raiding homesteads and torturing and murdering settlers—men, women and …
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Though referred to as ‘scouts,’ even by Lt. Col. George A. Custer, these Indians enlisted as soldiers—and some fought well at the Little Bighorn. On June 25–26, 1876, Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors on the Little Bighorn River annihilated the five 7th U.S. Cavalry companies under the direct command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong …
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The Hunkpapa Lakota warrior Left Hand is one of the quiet enigmas of Custer’s Last Stand —a man who served as both a scout for Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and a warrior for Sitting Bull but died without explaining why he did what he did. Left Hand signed on as a U.S. Army Indian …
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California’s grape varieties and wine business might be older than most realize. The region was a part of New Spain in 1779 when Franciscan missionaries planted the first sustained vineyard at Mission San Diego de Alcalá. French settler Jean-Louis Vignes was among the first to establish a non-mission vineyard and is credited with introducing a …
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Frederic Francis Gerard was a man of many roles—including one at the Little Bighorn. Fluent in French, English, Lakota, Arikara and Ojibwe, Gerard was a natural as an interpreter for the 1876 expedition, helping Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer communicate with his company of Arikara soldier-scouts (see related story,P. 26). He was also an experienced …
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