The Real West

Stagecoach drivers and Pony Express riders braved robberies and attacks while forging a link between East and West.

The colorful and dangerous history of the wagon train, the means by which the frontier was extended.

The truth behind the stories of the West’s most infamous outlaws, including Billy the Kid, John Wesley Hardin and Jesse James.

The saga of the windy prairie town that grew into one of the nation’s largest cities. Rare photographs and records bring to life the Chicago of Pullman, Marshall Field, McCormick and Sandburg.

Sweep aside the historical hype and confront the real facts and controversies surrounding Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William B. Travis, and the Texan defenders of the Alamo. Why did they fight when defeat and death were certain? We examine the impulsive heroics, the fatal miscalculations, and the vain ambitions of three men out to carve their marks into American folklore.

As homesteaders and miners went west to seek their fortunes, scientists came to look for dinosaur bones in the fossil-rich lands. Fighting hostile Native Americans, Christian Creationists, and each other, two rival paleontologists vied for the most startling discoveries.

The colorful story of how the mighty steamboat overcame sandbar-filled waters and hostile Native Americans to open the West to pioneer settlement. Recounts how the steamers carried soldiers, homesteaders, cowboys, miners, and supplies into the vast new lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

The Navajo triumphed against one of the most brutal and extensive military campaigns waged by the U.S. Government against a Native American people. Ultimately they went on to become the largest and most prosperous Indigenous American tribe.

The story of how newspapers sensationalized coverage of the West to win readers. Includes accounts of how reporters twisted the facts of the Indian Wars, and how dime novels made Calamity Jane into a Black Hills’ beauty and James Butler Hickok into Wild Bill.

The passion and leadership of Sioux warrior Sitting Bull, who fought against encroachment by the white man.

Legendary figures and tales of the romantic Old West come alive through the use of film clips, photos, drawings, and reenactments. Includes portraits of Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Geronimo.

Their cultures lived and thrived in the America’s southeast for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. But for the “Five Civilized Tribes”, Congress mandated banishment, hardship, and a long walk to death.

Starved by the buffalo hunter’s greed and driven from their homeland, the hardfighting Southern Cheyenne struggled to maintain peace on the plains. But for Colonel John Chivington, there could be no peace until every Indian was wiped out.

Legendary warrior Crazy Horse’s role in the Sioux victory over Custer at Little Bighorn.

The Cheyenne were perhaps the greatest warrior nation of the 19th century. Split apart by both the fur traders’ desire for buffalo hide and the white settlers’ westward expansion along the Oregon Trail, their life quickly turned into a perpetual fight for survival.

The legendary saga of Oglala Chief Red Cloud–fierce and proud leader in both war and peace.