Bradshaw's Desert Trail To Gold - His good friend Horace Bell called him a "most polished gentleman" and a "natural lunatic." Whichever label fit, 36-year-old William David Bradshaw knew opportunity when he saw it. He knew that Powell Weaver, a well-known scout and trapper, had found gold at a place called La Paz on January 12, 1862. He knew that Weaver's strike lay on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, about 250 miles east of Los Angeles. He knew that the inevitable stampede of Argonauts - many of them refugees from the exhausted gold mines to the north - would need a new, more direct trail east from the Los Angeles area across the desert to reach Weaver's strike. More...

Sharps Rifle - Marcellus E. Jones, Lieutenant, 8th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, watched from behind a fence next to blacksmith Ephraim Wisler's home, on Knoxlyn Ridge, as a Confederate division lead the Third Corps toward Gettysburg. Jones borrowed a Sharps carbine from Sergeant Levi Shafer. He rested it on the fence railing. Quoted by Petruzzi, Jones later said, "I took aim at an officer on a white or light gray horse and fired-the first shot at the battle of Gettysburg."

While Jones' claim of firing the first shot would prove arguable, his weapon of choice, the Sharps carbine, signified a growing revolution in small arms development. The Sharps carbines and the Sharps rifles, invented by Christian Sharps and manufactured by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company, would become legends for the roles they played in the theatres of the Civil War, the buffalo-killing fields of the Great Plains and the desert battlefields of the Southwest's Indian Wars. More...

Lake Powell, AZ - Lake Powell, created by the Glen Canyon Dam, is 186 miles long with more than 1,986 miles of shoreline. After the dam was completed in 1963, it took another 14 years to fill Lake Powell. Since then, Lake Powell has proven to be a premier attraction for millions of visitors from all over the world.

Before the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, these remote rugged canyons were a discouraging barrier to the early pioneers and explorers. Today, Lake Powell winds its way through this desert paradise with excellent views of balancing rocks, pinnacles, buttes, arches and amphitheaters. The combination of clear skies, crystal clear water and red sandstone rock formations makes this national recreation area an ideal place for the outdoor enthusiast. Lake Powell is more than just a fantastic recreation area. Awesome in its dimensions and complexity, its desolate beauty makes it an experience never to be forgotten. Read more...

The Apache Kid - High in the San Mateo Mountains of the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico is Apache Kid Peak, and one mile northwest as the crow flies, at Cyclone Saddle, is the Apache Kid gravesite. The hiker who comes across the marked site in such a remote area may wonder who the Kid was, and perhaps will ask himself why, so far from the usual tourist attractions, such an elaborate memorial has been assembled. In the story of the Apache Kid, much of it fact and part of it legend, rests one of the Southwest's many intriguing sagas. Click here for more...