Real Pics of The Old West

[hotrats773]

I follow a Facebook group called Traces of Texas and they get some amazing shots (most not in the public domain). If you like old west history, you'll love these. More importantly, it's impressive how much Rockstar got right with this game. It really feels like a period piece.

 

My latest favorite one:
 

Quote

Traces of Texas reader George Hargrave forwarded this dynamite Texas Ranger image. Says George "Texas Ranger Cpl. J. Walter Durbin (at right) said he had some 15 good men in Company D, though a few could be a “little fussy and dangerous” when drinking. Private Wood Saunders (at left) measured up splendidly—on both counts. This is one of my favorite photos because it shows how both Rangers carried their six-shooter Colts just forward of the hip, butt to the front, easily permitting a strong-hand cross draw."

I love the way they look generally speaking, of course, but those mustaches are something particularly awesome.

— Courtesy the Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library & J. Evetts Haley History Center

Edited December 25, 2019 by hotrats773

[1898]

Love this stuff.

 

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders - year 1898

 

 

 

 

A group of Kansas abolitionists. Look at expression on the man in the checkered jacket. Not to be messed with.

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by 1898

[hotrats773]

Moonshiners and their still captured by Texas Rangers in an undated photo. How great is this? The handcuffed moonshiners don't look happy!

 

 

 

"Traces of Texas reader Kerry Taylor was nice enough to send in this dynamite photo, taken in Fort Worth back in 1900. These two look like the kind that probably didn't take any guff from the prisoners!

"

 

 

 

Rafael "Red" Lopez (center) and unknown compatriots circa 1915 in El Paso. Red was a little-known Mexican outlaw who was responsible for at least thirty known murders in northern Mexico and the American Southwest. He fought in the Mexican Revolution. It is believed that he was eventually killed in a shootout by Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, though there is some doubt about that. This photo was taken by well-known El Paso photographer Otis Aultmann.

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by hotrats773
formatting

[Coleco]

I currently don't have anything to contribute to the thread but just wanted to say that this stuff is really interesting - can't wait to see more.

 

Thanks for sharing guys 

[TheLordMarvel]

This one has been a favorite of mine for awhile.

 

 

A Native American looking over a newly laid railroad. Sacramento, 1867

 

[Gtaman_92]

 

Britton Johnson circa the 1800's. Britton was a former slave turned cowboy who became a frontier legend when he rescued his family from the Comanche’s after they were captured in the Elm Creek Raid in October 1864. Johnson later moved his family to Parker County where he started a freight business hauling goods from Weatherford to Fort Griffin. He was killed after twenty-five Kiowas attacked his wagon in January 24, 1871.

 

 

Buffalo Soldiers at Camp Lawton, Washington (1st pic) and Presido San Francisco (2nd pic) in the year 1900. They were African American Soldiers who mainly served on the Western frontier following the civil war to help control the Natives of the plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and railroad crews during the Western era.

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Fields AKA "Stagecoach Mary" in 1895. She was the first African American women to be employed to carry US mail and she often traveled along the Central Montana trail battling dangerous weathers, Thieves and Bandits along the way.

 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Gtaman_92

[hotrats773]

Nat Love was pretty badass too! 

 

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Nat Love (sometimes spelled Nate Love) (June 1854 – 1921) was an African-American cowboy and former slave in the period following the American Civil War. His exploits have made him one of the most famous black heroes of the Old West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Love

Edited December 25, 2019 by hotrats773

[hotrats773]

Quote

Texas Ranger James B. "Jim" Hawkins looking rather fearsome and up to the job in a circa 1875 photo. Hawkins enlisted in Company D of the Rangers in Blanco on May 25, 1874, under Captain Rufus Perry and rode with most of the famous rangers of his day. Later he was a lawman in Montana where, in 1894, this was written about him:

 

"James B. Hawkins, the present Sheriff of Custer County and residing at Miles City was elected on the ticket of the People's party in 1892 and is a model Sheriff. He neither drinks intoxicants nor uses tobacco in any form; nor did he use a dollar in his campaign for office, while his opponents both Democratic and Republican, spent money liberally and called our subject the "ghost dance" candidate. Yet he was elected and his fidelity to his official duties proves the wisdom of the majority of voters in the county as all now agree that he is the right man in the right place. He is both vigilant and wisely courageous and withal a genial gentleman."

 

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Traces of Texas reader Chino Chapa graciously sent in this dynamite historical photo of former Erath County farmer-turned-train robber Rube Burrow in his coffin, propped up against a train, in October, 1890. Chino included this super interesting history behind this photo:

 

"Burrow moved from Alabama to Texas in 1872, when he was 18, to farm with his uncle in Stephenville. Story goes he was intent on working hard and living right, which he did initially, saving enough money to secure some land, get married, and have children. He farmed in Stephenville until 1880, when his wife died, leaving him a widowed father of two at 25. In 1884, he remarried and moved to Alexander, Texas. But when his crops failed two years in a row during a drought and his second marriage ended, he became bitter and turned to crime, robbing trains with his younger brother, Jim. His first robbery was a FW&D train near Bellevue, Texas, on December 11, 1886. His next hold-ups were T&P trains in Gordon, Texas, and Benbrook, Texas, in 1887. From there his life of crime escalated as he and his gang robbed trains from Arkansas to Alabama.

 

When he killed a conductor and a passenger, he became despised by the railroads & the target of one of the most widespread manhunts in American history for the next few years. Eluding authorities for almost 5 years, Burrow was captured by two black men, Jesse Hildreth and Frank Marshall, with the help of two white planters, John McDuffie and Jeff "Dixie" Carter, in Myrtlewood, Alabama on October 7, 1890. Former slaves Hildreth and Marshall jumped Burrow and held him for McDuffie and Carter. Rube offered Hildreth $100 to let him go, but Hildreth said, "I couldn't use it then, 'cuz you'd kill me first," All four captors took Burrow, known as a charmer, to jail in Linden, Alabama, with Burrow entertaining them all the way with funny stories. While in jail the next morning of October 8, 1890, Burrow complained of hunger and talked his jailers into handing him his bag, which had ginger snaps inside. It also contained a gun and Burrow whipped it out and held it at the head of one of the guards. He thought he'd escaped, locking two guards in his cell and taking another as hostage to get back the stolen money taken from him. However when Burrow went outside, Dixie Carter was again waiting for him and a gun fight erupted. Afterwards, Burrow lay dead in the street. Burrow’s body was shipped by train back to Lamar County, Alabama, where he grew up. At a transfer connection stop in Birmingham, this photo was taken before the beginning of a publicized public display. Thousands showed up to walk past & view the corpse, some snatching buttons from his coat, cutting hair from his head and even stealing the boots off his feet. His guns, however, were removed before the event for safe keeping. Burrow's father Allen met the train at its final destination, Vernon, Alabama, where train attendants threw the coffin at his feet. He took his son's body back to his home and buried him. Moral of the story, kids: Don't grow up to be train robbers."

Edited December 25, 2019 by hotrats773

[*Lola]

 

Christmas trees.

Edited December 24, 2019 by *Lola

[Leftover Pizza]

since the clothing items we get kinda go this way:
 

 

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok and William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody in 1873, dressed for the stage. MS 6 William F. Cody Collection. 

[hotrats773]

Quote

Texas Ranger Jules Baker in "Colorado," Texas, undated. Not sure if the location is Colorado City, Texas, or Colorado, Texas, which is a very tiny community in Bastrop County. He was one of three brothers who were all Texas Rangers. He dons a cartridge belt having full loops filled with rifle cartridges for his 1895 Winchester SRC. His pistol might be a Colt Single Action Army. This is a man truly ready for whatever the treacherous plains of Texas could throw at him

 

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This is William Levi "Buck" Taylor, the original King of the Cowboys. William was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1857. He was orphaned when his father was killed in the Civil War. At the age of 14 he became a cowhand and worked all over the west, eventually meeting up with Buffalo Bill Cody, who was taken by William's looks and his height ----- he stood 6'4" tall, a giant in those times. Cody decided to make William one of the stars of his famous traveling show and invented a whole backstory for William. William died in 1924 and is buried in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

 

 

Quote

The Lone Star State circa 1901. "Camp wagon on a Texas roundup." 

 

[Failed Again]

[WPCatfish]

This one's near home...looks similiar to the mining facility at Anneburg.

 

[Failed Again]

On 12/23/2019 at 2:47 PM, Gtaman_92 said:

 

Britton Johnson circa the 1800's. Britton was a former slave turned cowboy who became a frontier legend when he rescued his family from the Comanche’s after they were captured in the Elm Creek Raid in October 1864. Johnson later moved his family to Parker County where he started a freight business hauling goods from Weatherford to Fort Griffin. He was killed after twenty-five Kiowas attacked his wagon in January 24, 1871.

 

 

Buffalo Soldiers at Camp Lawton, Washington (1st pic) and Presido San Francisco (2nd pic) in the year 1900. They were African American Soldiers who mainly served on the Western frontier following the civil war to help control the Natives of the plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and railroad crews during the Western era.

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Fields AKA "Stagecoach Mary" in 1895. She was the first African American women to be employed to carry US mail and she often traveled along the Central Montana trail battling dangerous weathers, Thieves and Bandits along the way.

 

Hell on wheels, featured her.

[Gtaman_92]

3 hours ago, Failed Again said:

Who is that guy? 

[1898]

Could be LeClerks aunt.

 

 

Don't heckle the band. I see at least 3 pistols.

 

 

You don't think these people had a sense of style?

 

[Failed Again]

7 hours ago, Gtaman_92 said:

Who is that guy? 

The Lone Ranger

 

before the mask

[Rev. Gnash]

Bass Reeves (July 1838 – January 12, 1910) was the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory. During his long career, he was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. He shot and killed 14 people in self-defense. (Wiki)

 

 

Plus this gem:

 

[Failed Again]

He was cool....

 

“Maybe the law ain’t perfect, but it’s the only one we got, and without it we got nuthin” — Bass Reeves

 

if interested in more info..

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bassreeves/

Edited December 27, 2019 by Failed Again

[1898]

There's an episode of Justified where there asking why there hasn't been a major motion picture bio of Bass Reeves. I mean they wouldn't even have to embellish the story like they have for other western characters. What's taking them so long...The man deserves his place with other western legends.

Edited December 27, 2019 by 1898