Dr. History's Tales of the Old West

Latest Episodes:

Early Medicine Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

If purging, blistering, sweating or bleeding didn’t work, the patient didn’t have much hope. Homeopaths, hydropaths, botanic doctors, bonesetters and inoculators, Indian healers and midwives had their place. But rest, fluids and tender loving cured most illnesses.

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Pat Garrett Mar 01, 2022

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Before he killed Billy the Kid, he killed Joe Briscoe. Billy and Pat were great friends. Billy bought Pat clothes, gave him a horse and saved him from a gunfight. They ate, drank, double dated and played cards together and were known as "Big Casino" and "Little Casino."

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Billy the Kid - After Death - Part 2 Feb 22, 2022

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Who knows the truth? Was his grave marker shot to pieces, made from a fence post, in a museum or washed away by a flood? And his coffin, filled with a saddle bag and rocks, a side of beef or just dirt? The exact location of the grave is anybody’s guess.

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Billy the Kid - After Death - Part 1 Feb 15, 2022

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Newspapers sell papers with exciting headlines, true or not. Was his finger cut off, his body dug up and bones held together with wires, body parts on display at county fairs, his skull owned by an Albuquerque man? Not according to Pat Garrett.

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Uncommon Outlaws Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Anthony Blum outwitted a priest. Cyclone Bill claimed a cyclone took him, his mules and wagon in Arizona and dropped them in Kansas. George and Wheeler destroyed an express car with dynamite. Amateur cattle thief “Russian Bill” ended up on the end of a rope.

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The Last Old Time Prospector Feb 01, 2022

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Frank “Shorty” Harris spent his life in search of the big bonanza. From Idaho, Montana, Arizona and California he found good mines, but not fortune. Buried in a national park, a bronze plaque reads, “Here Lies Shorty Harris, a single blanket jackass prospector."

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Trappers and Trailblazers - Part 3 Jan 25, 2022

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Jim Beckworth became a war chief of the Crow, trapped for the Rocky Mountain and American fur companies. Trappers struggled to survive severe cold, Indians, dysentery, smallpox, tetanus, bears and rattlesnakes. A good year could net him as much as $2000 at the rendezvous to buy supplies for another perilous year.

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Trappers and Trailblazers - Part 2 Jan 18, 2022

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William Ashley formed the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1822 he hired Jed Smith, Jim Bridger, Tom Fitzpatrick, Hugh Glass and the Sublette brothers. He organized the first rendezvous at Henry’s Fork on the Green River, each year moving to other locations, Fort Hall, Pierre’s Hole, Jackson Hole and others.

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Trappers and Trailblazers - Part 1 Jan 11, 2022

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John Colter was returning to St. Louis with Lewis and Clark when he returned to the wilderness to guide and trap beaver. He traveled through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana searching for beaver and working with Indians. He was chased for six miles by Blackfeet Indians, running naked he survived by hiding in a river.

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Pioneer Stage Lines - Part 2 Jan 04, 2022

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Mail carriers began carrying express, cash, bank drafts, gold and silver resulting in the first stage robbery. Wells Fargo contracted with existing companies to carry their express. First class mail sometimes eventually made it, second class mail might be found along the trail or thrown under wagon wheels to help cross mud bogs.

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