I like to imagine that each time someone new stumbles on one of these tall tales, somewhere in Literary Valhalla, Sam Clemens is chuckling with delight
I was born in Hannibal, MO and grew up just south of Hannibal. Samuel Clemens spent his boyhood there but was born in Florida, MO. Sam's talent for writing fiction was born in Hannibal, he went to work for his brother at the local newspaper. His first fiction was a made up letter to the editor complaining about a barking dog. It caused some friction between two families that were the object of the letter. The story is that Sam joined a riverboat and fled town to avoid a bath in hot tar and feathers. I don't know if that story is true but it is one of the stories that circulated around town for years.
As a former certified Nevada Tour Guide, I appreciate your story. In Virginia City, there was a group known as the Szarac Liars Club, where tall tales and outright whoppers would get published in the Newspaper. Stories about riding camels, or ostrich were common. As a side note, Walt Disney, and Ward Kimball purchased the locomotive from the Eureka & Palisade railroad. You can read about the Emma Nevada in other locations.
Something that I found interesting when I found out about it was that the episode of Sam Clemens as a character being in an episode of Bonanza wasn't outside of the realm of possibility, given the time and setting of the show.
Thank you for this post. It hits at a subject very dear to me, and that is Nevada History. From a distance, you would think that the history wasn’t much to talk about. They found minerals of great worth, mined them out, and moved on. But it’s much more than that. The intersection of lust, greed and gold fever formed a rich and deep legacy. For most early Nevadans, the only thing they found was extreme hard labor for a very small wage. But the monumental constructions they accomplished are staggering. The news papers of that day were like the internet of 10 years ago. I’m sure somewhere there were people who said “they printed it in the paper, it must be true, you can’t lie in the paper”. If you are interested in Nevada history, an excellent book to prime you is Stanley Payers “Ghost towns of Nevada. Sadly, long out of print but perhaps you library has a copy.
Our stories of the Wild West are shaped by the needs of society at the time. Compare the Lone Ranger from the thirties to Gunsmoke from the 50s - one was melodramatic, the other was thoughtful and mature. In the 70s they became flawed antiheroes, by the 80s that were pretty much gone.
The stones that slide across the old lake bed with the wind after rains? It took them a long time to prove that it was just the wind and the rain moving the stones, but some people still don't believe that.
Real things that sound made up: The Sailing Stones of Death Valley The Barking Sands of Kauai The Giant Gerbils of Kazakhstan (That last one sounds like an oath: "What in the name of the Giant Gerbils of Kazakhstan are you doing?!?")
Having been born and raised in Eureka, I sure did love this episode! You can still visit Palisade today, not much to see though, a graveyard and a few piles of rubble all that remains.
As a Nevada resident, I can assure you that the “Wild West” still exists in the our fair state. Be it politics or theatrics, there are bound to be odd tales to be told and heard.
THG summarized it pretty well that it was the excitement of the possibility of new lands that made people so willing to believe those stories that later took on a life of their own in the 20th century. the mythologized images of cowboys and country living even fed back into how some rural folk live their lives
I have newspapers that Sam autographed and 1st print of Huck Finn. And a short story of the Frogs 🐸 of Calaveras County . Mark Twains ghost 👻 has been seen in numerous places.
Would you ever consider making a video on the topic of the Second Fiji Expedition? I think that's a fascinating period in Us Naval history, with quite a story to tell as well.
I really enjoy the THG videos! I’m from Idaho and while stationed at the Philly Shipyard in 1990, a local resident seriously wanted to know how I survived the Indian attacks, while growing up.
Out of all the figures from history, Abe is the one I'd most like to meet and have a conversation with, or just sit and listen to, as his story telling abilities are legendary.
@@drshoe8744 Daniel Day Lewis made a noble effort toward APPROXIMATING Abe's persona in the 2012 movie 'LINCOLN'. Close association with Abe must have been both a blessing and a curse. ibid - Dan Fogelberg: NEXUS ua-cam.com/video/p_HkvlO8r6E/v-deo.html
The Buena Park, CA based theme park, "Knott's Berry Farm" has an area called the "Calico Ghost Town" which, as the name suggests, is an area reminiscent of the wild west. In fact, the theme park wild west town includes actual buildings from the real California ghost town of Calico, California, (which still, as far as I know, can be visited in the south-eastern part of the state.) I am unaware whether or not the park still features this aspect in its Calico ghost town, but back when I was a kid in the 1980s, there was a "Wild West Stunt Show" that performed multiple shows daily. Plus, if you rode the Calico Railroad train, (an actual steam locomotive pulling several replica-type passenger cars on a looped track throughout the park,) at one point during the ride "bandits" would board the train and commit an old-fashioned train robbery. These features of the park would have a great amount of influence on me to want to get into show-business, i.e., the whole idea of dressing up as a wild west cowboy and entertaining people by pretending to have shoot-outs and/or do mock train robberies just seemed like a lot of fun to do.
The merger of the “continental railroad” image, “promontory point, Utah” is followed by an image of a “mining town” that looks suspiciously like a city named Tooele at the northwest end of the Salt Lake Valley, the current site of mineral refineries for a large, open pit copper mine.… History Guy, can you confirm this?
A very fine start to my morning. 1967 my brother in law was stationed at Ft Riley Kansas and we went to visit my sister and him. Got to Dodge city and that was quite the sight. I was 12 but dad allowed me to drive a few times in Kansas. hehe.
Racetrack Playa in Death Valley does have stones that move and wasn't fully understood until the late 20th century. There may have been truth in the yarn.
Good morning History Guy and everyone watching. More severe weather expected for North Texas and Oklahoma. Stay safe! Snow will be falling in the Denver area, drive carefully.
I remember Twain's description of an encounter with another fellow in Nevada City: "Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him to the ground on top of me."
Thank you for the lesson. While looking up crime statistics, I came across this. More law officers were killed within 50 miles of Muskegee in the Territory of Oklahoma than in the entire rest of what was considered to be the Old West.
I know a Kansas historian arguing that Bleeding Kansas didn't happen. There were at most 4 dozen murders over the course of a decade which included no authority figures, but the 1950s a movie staring Ronald Reagan of all people presented as fact high attritional losses of army officers because of assassination that simply never happened, not even once.
Carefully staged display of the appropriate cuff-links, Sir. As a (mostly) Hat aficionado, where was your poker visor? 🙂 Excellent episode this week, Professor!
I have Loved watching your videos ever since you put out the video about apples, which was your first video I watched. I really want to thank you for pronunciation or is it enunciating, whichever I want to thank you for Pronouncing Nevada correctly. There is another channel I following who refuses to pronounce Nevada correctly, even though I have commented and included a video of President Trump in Las Vegas telling the world how to pronounce Nevada correctly. He is a Dr, not a medical type, so you would think someone who has DR. in the title of his channel would want to pronounce Nevada correctly. Again Thank You.
Legend tells of an incredible hero. Carto-Man. Half of his body is a regular human, but the other half is made up of a key from a map. The man, the myth, the legend.
The mid-Twentieth Century version of tall tales in the press usually involved stories about flying saucers. There was an entire "dime novel" industry around this too.
Oatman, Arizona was the last time I saw a "gunfight". At Silverwood theme park in Athol. Idaho they had "train robberies". I don't know if they still do these things anymore but it was entertainment in the west.
Williams Arizona at the entrance to the grand canyon is another place that is acting out the old west and they stop the old train as you go up the canyon , come aboard the train and rob it along with shootouts.
I'm from Kansas. In 1969, I visited Philadelphia. They seemed to think the "West" began at Pittsburgh. I finally got tired of being asked if we still had "Indian troubles". I started saying, "Yeah, but we keep fighting them off!" LOL!
My family has been in the West for over 150 years and we still love tall tales - the more outrageous the better. We knew about the corruption but if some Easterner believed that somebody was honest, the better the joke.
*Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.* Just because it's a myth does it make it worthless
Our dad used to read to us at bedtime when we were boys. Somewhere we came across a rather large paperback book with sketches. It was named Pioneer Nevada and each page contained a short story about happenings in the Nevada territory. Many of the stories were about the silver rush of that time. Some were about hoaxes as well. If you ever run across a copy I highly recommend it.
Why, I bought me a bag of them roll around stones while back. I pitched them into a dry lake bed in death valley. They've been rollin round on there own ever since! Hear tale you can read bout it over that there Internet from time to time.
Well the sensationalistic infotainment media certainly deserts credit, their efforts are small compared to the propagation of misinformation through the medium of social media. Those who are not wary & are too credulous are the victims of self-inflicted ignorance
In doing research on my family history I've come numerous articles and bits in old newspapers in the 1800s involving a relative of mine. He planted many of them himself it seems for self promotion or some other reason. One saying he inherited a fortune from an uncle in Germany. He didn't have an uncle in Germany.
HG - As a huge fan of Mark Twain's scribblings (especially like his newspaper articles), I just KNEW you would have to mention him in this video ! Could you please cover some of the other less known writers who were also known for their humor ? You mentioned Dan DeQuille, but can you give us some other names too ? I want to look up their articles and read their stuff too. Thanks !
Around the turn of the century my Great Grandmother and her friends staged a battle between cowboys an Indians in view of a western bound train in Nevada. They were thrilled a few days later when an account of the battle was published in San Francisco paper.
I once lived in a abandoned trailer outside of Kingston NV. I was on the run from a failure to appear warrant out of Reno. I was using my middle name as an alias and I spent a lot of time working for locals I met at the local drinking hole. I had a lot of fun and I worked really hard. One night I was sitting on a sofa smoking a bowl with a cool couple and the old lady who I was renting a room from. Whilst watching TV my with everyone my face came up on Renos most wanted😂 Awkward. The couple got freaked out and called one of the 2 cops who were responsible for that vast territory and the chase was on. The lady who rented me the room had my back and after two weeks of running around the big smoky valley avoiding Trooper Charlie Brown (actual name) she smuggled me to a friend down towards the Hadley Gold Mine and he smuggled me in his truck to Battle Mountain where I got on a train to SLC where a close Army buddy gave me a couch for a while. I've long since cleaned up that warrant and my act in the process but that is my Wild West story.
My husband's grandpa's great grandpa died in an old west shootout! He was in defending the governor of Colorado's house, is how the story goes. Some guy wanted something and there was a standoff with the ancestor, and it seemed resolved so the ancestor bent down to retrieve gis gun to walk away, and the other guy got spooked and shot him.
Sam Clemens' friend, Bret Hart, also used his position with a newspaper to tell stories. The story about the jumping frogs contest in Calaveras County, CA, has been turned into an annual event now.
I find it odd in the UK in the 1860 was very different culture and politicalwise compared to the expanding US of the same time. Maybe I should find 2024 US also somewhat likewise different compared to UK today too.
The problem with this video is the hoaxes of Sam Clemins are widely known, there was even a Bonanza episode on it. Videos on hoaxes some people still believe would be appreciated, like the myth of men getting rich selling shovels during a gold rush. The reality was it was so expensive to haul goods across the frontier that those men were just as liable as the miners to go bankrupt.
The story of the stones followed by the mention of Death Valley triggered a memory of something that is true. The wandering stones in Death Valley. It's a pretty cool place to go see if you happen to be in the area. It took some time for scientists to come up with the cause of these stones moving across a basin on their own (leaving trails). Yep, newspapers in the West were pretty sketchy, and that sketchiness lasted well into the 20th Century. There's also the petrified pygmy found in Nevada, and the Egyptian cave in the Grand Canyon, and a host of other myths that are almost all tracible to these newspapers. Hey, it drove readership - kinda like the Enquirer does today. Add all that to the folks back in the East buying into the whole mythology of the West...... Yep, check your facts, and always be careful of things that seem too good or too bad to be true.
In many ways, the "Wild West" was as much a creation of storytelling as it was a historical reality. These myths reinforced the idea of the West as a place of danger, adventure, and endless opportunity, adding to its mystique and allure-an image that endures to this day in popular culture.
How odd. I stopped in Palisade during a trip through Eastern Nevada in May. Saw the graveyard but the townsite had been mostly obliterated by searchers & floods. Clemens is quoted as commenting on mining issues ( he worked for a short time in a mine in Aurora, but was put off by manuel labor) The quote is " a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it" Most propectors only worked their discovery to prove it up & then sold the claim to developers. BTW, Palisade was not a mining town. It was a railroad junction where ores from Eureka & other local mines such as Hamilton, were transferred from the Eureka & Palisade RR to the Central Pacific for transport to the refinery in either Utah or Frisco. The town also served local ranches. which still exist.
Dear History Guy, you may be interested in a small Wyoming town history book written by the last of the old timers, "Times Past." Glenrock, Wyoming Historical museum has a few copies. Real tails remembered and told by a struggling people.
I like to imagine that each time someone new stumbles on one of these tall tales, somewhere in Literary Valhalla, Sam Clemens is chuckling with delight
As a librarian who tries very hard to teach my students about checking their sources, I love this video
What's so ironic is that in this era of limitless access to information there seems to be more BS floating around than ever before.
Hi, could you help me with this question, what was considered as a resolution and survival of legal texts in early civilizations
I'm sure that, today...news outlets would NEVER stretch the truth or make up something. 😅😵
Politicians either. Even if they specifically admit it and show pride in their work
They wouldn’t even think of it!
😂😂
Never, couldn't happen!
Like the time someone told a crowd that they won’t have a country any more unless they went on a peaceful tourist walk through the Capitol.
😂
I was born in Hannibal, MO and grew up just south of Hannibal. Samuel Clemens spent his boyhood there but was born in Florida, MO. Sam's talent for writing fiction was born in Hannibal, he went to work for his brother at the local newspaper. His first fiction was a made up letter to the editor complaining about a barking dog. It caused some friction between two families that were the object of the letter. The story is that Sam joined a riverboat and fled town to avoid a bath in hot tar and feathers. I don't know if that story is true but it is one of the stories that circulated around town for years.
One wonders if the story of him fleeing wasn't also one of his inventions.
@@shannonkohl68 One way to have a reason to wind up in Nevada. Long way to go to avoid a couple irritated families. Great story fodder.
I have lived near Palisades fo 25 years and I have never heard that story. You learn something new every day.
As a Nevada native I really enjoyed this. Thank you The History Guy!
As a former certified Nevada Tour Guide, I appreciate your story.
In Virginia City, there was a group known as the Szarac Liars Club, where tall tales and outright whoppers would get published in the Newspaper. Stories about riding camels, or ostrich were common. As a side note, Walt Disney, and Ward Kimball purchased the locomotive from the Eureka & Palisade railroad. You can read about the Emma Nevada in other locations.
I love that you are chuckling while telling some of these tall tales🤣
I know that's right. Listening to him tell the stories made me giggle also 🤣
Something that I found interesting when I found out about it was that the episode of Sam Clemens as a character being in an episode of Bonanza wasn't outside of the realm of possibility, given the time and setting of the show.
Thank you for this post. It hits at a subject very dear to me, and that is Nevada History.
From a distance, you would think that the history wasn’t much to talk about. They found minerals of great worth, mined them out, and moved on.
But it’s much more than that. The intersection of lust, greed and gold fever formed a rich and deep legacy.
For most early Nevadans, the only thing they found was extreme hard labor for a very small wage. But the monumental constructions they accomplished are staggering.
The news papers of that day were like the internet of 10 years ago. I’m sure somewhere there were people who said “they printed it in the paper, it must be true, you can’t lie in the paper”.
If you are interested in Nevada history, an excellent book to prime you is Stanley Payers “Ghost towns of Nevada. Sadly, long out of print but perhaps you library has a copy.
Paradise is a pretty cool ghost town to visit. Not far off I-80. The whole West is chuck full of ghost towns, and Nevada has a lot of them.
Our stories of the Wild West are shaped by the needs of society at the time. Compare the Lone Ranger from the thirties to Gunsmoke from the 50s - one was melodramatic, the other was thoughtful and mature. In the 70s they became flawed antiheroes, by the 80s that were pretty much gone.
..exactly. my friend...
There are traveling stones. They are called "sailing stones" in Death Valley. Search sailing stones for info. NO hoax.
The stones that slide across the old lake bed with the wind after rains? It took them a long time to prove that it was just the wind and the rain moving the stones, but some people still don't believe that.
Real things that sound made up:
The Sailing Stones of Death Valley
The Barking Sands of Kauai
The Giant Gerbils of Kazakhstan
(That last one sounds like an oath: "What in the name of the Giant Gerbils of Kazakhstan are you doing?!?")
^ The Giant Gerbils of Kazakhstan sounds like a Nintendocore band
Ice has to lift the stones first. Then a light wind can move the broken ice sheets dragging the stones in the mud.
Having been born and raised in Eureka, I sure did love this episode! You can still visit Palisade today, not much to see though, a graveyard and a few piles of rubble all that remains.
Thanks for the story of my home state. Mark Twain is one of our claims to fame when he lived in Virginia City.
Thanks greatly for the Twain bio "Roughing It" is the best portrayal of American west in my opinion.
As a Nevada resident, I can assure you that the “Wild West” still exists in the our fair state. Be it politics or theatrics, there are bound to be odd tales to be told and heard.
If you look carefully at 2:09, you can make out Marty and Doc shaking hands
The locomotive on the left is the one they would "borrow" and plunge into Shonash, er, Clayton, no, Eastwood Ravine.
Most never bother to check their sources still.
The story's of the wild west have affected America more than the actual rare "wild west"
THG summarized it pretty well that it was the excitement of the possibility of new lands that made people so willing to believe those stories that later took on a life of their own in the 20th century. the mythologized images of cowboys and country living even fed back into how some rural folk live their lives
My grandfather was in Arizona with the U.S. Army hunting for Poncho Villa when it became a state.
I have newspapers that Sam autographed and 1st print of Huck Finn. And a short story of the Frogs 🐸 of Calaveras County . Mark Twains ghost 👻 has been seen in numerous places.
Would you ever consider making a video on the topic of the Second Fiji Expedition? I think that's a fascinating period in Us Naval history, with quite a story to tell as well.
I really enjoy the THG videos! I’m from Idaho and while stationed at the Philly Shipyard in 1990, a local resident seriously wanted to know how I survived the Indian attacks, while growing up.
Fascinating background on Mark Twain and stories from the Wild West! Thanks THG!!!!❤
Recall that 'Honest Abe' shared the frontiersman's appreciation of Tall-Tales.
Out of all the figures from history, Abe is the one I'd most like to meet and have a conversation with, or just sit and listen to, as his story telling abilities are legendary.
@@drshoe8744 Daniel Day Lewis made a noble effort toward APPROXIMATING Abe's persona in the 2012 movie 'LINCOLN'. Close association with Abe must have been both a blessing and a curse. ibid - Dan Fogelberg: NEXUS ua-cam.com/video/p_HkvlO8r6E/v-deo.html
New favorite episode!
The Buena Park, CA based theme park, "Knott's Berry Farm" has an area called the "Calico Ghost Town" which, as the name suggests, is an area reminiscent of the wild west. In fact, the theme park wild west town includes actual buildings from the real California ghost town of Calico, California, (which still, as far as I know, can be visited in the south-eastern part of the state.)
I am unaware whether or not the park still features this aspect in its Calico ghost town, but back when I was a kid in the 1980s, there was a "Wild West Stunt Show" that performed multiple shows daily. Plus, if you rode the Calico Railroad train, (an actual steam locomotive pulling several replica-type passenger cars on a looped track throughout the park,) at one point during the ride "bandits" would board the train and commit an old-fashioned train robbery. These features of the park would have a great amount of influence on me to want to get into show-business, i.e., the whole idea of dressing up as a wild west cowboy and entertaining people by pretending to have shoot-outs and/or do mock train robberies just seemed like a lot of fun to do.
The merger of the “continental railroad” image, “promontory point, Utah” is followed by an image of a “mining town” that looks suspiciously like a city named Tooele at the northwest end of the Salt Lake Valley, the current site of mineral refineries for a large, open pit copper mine.…
History Guy, can you confirm this?
@@ADude-f3z that is a photo of the Tonopah Mizpah mine in Tonopah, NV.
A very fine start to my morning. 1967 my brother in law was stationed at Ft Riley Kansas and we went to visit my sister and him. Got to Dodge city and that was quite the sight. I was 12 but dad allowed me to drive a few times in Kansas. hehe.
TY for uploading history, hoaxes & great interesting stories.
Very interesting
Craig Hensley as Wyatt Earp?
Great photo!
I hired him to play that role!
I just noticed you have over a million subscribers. Good on you! I first found your channel (and subscribed) when you had just over 100K.
Racetrack Playa in Death Valley does have stones that move and wasn't fully understood until the late 20th century. There may have been truth in the yarn.
Good morning History Guy and everyone watching. More severe weather expected for North Texas and Oklahoma. Stay safe! Snow will be falling in the Denver area, drive carefully.
I remember Twain's description of an encounter with another fellow in Nevada City: "Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him to the ground on top of me."
Thank you for the lesson.
While looking up crime statistics, I came across this.
More law officers were killed within 50 miles of Muskegee in the Territory of Oklahoma than in the entire rest of what was considered to be the Old West.
Can you provide a time period for those figures?
Also, that kinda makes sense, seeing how Oklahoma was policed by the marshals under Judge Parker.
true
I would argue that the Wild West started in the 1840s, with the concept of Manifest Destiny and ended just before WWI.
Manifest Destiny is itself a hoax, and the lawless period of the west started when the first humans got there.
THG,you rock! ❤ Peace
I know a Kansas historian arguing that Bleeding Kansas didn't happen. There were at most 4 dozen murders over the course of a decade which included no authority figures, but the 1950s a movie staring Ronald Reagan of all people presented as fact high attritional losses of army officers because of assassination that simply never happened, not even once.
Reminds me of how pop culture influenced the public Consciousness with the film The Right Stuff regarding Gus Grissom & the Liberty Bell 7s loss
Dan deQuille - Dandy Quill. I see what he did there.
Loved this subject! More, please!
Incredible.....
I feel richer with each story. Love to share your podcast with everyone.
Great story, Lance. Thanks for your continual work.
13:15 I'm not sure if they still do it, but they used to have mock gun fights in Virginia City as well, right next to the Mark Twain Museum
This is about my home state!
What?? Samuel Clements knew the Cartwrights?
North of Lovelock , 9ft. humanoid skeletons with red hair were found in a cave. The sheriff had one of the skulls in his desk for years.
Always interesting videos!
The end theme (sounds great!) reminds me of Eddie Money's "Baby Hold On"!
The most believable lies are those we want to be true.
*The psychology behind the dogma & rhetoric of those professional obfuscators; politicians*
Do tell
Carefully staged display of the appropriate cuff-links, Sir. As a (mostly) Hat aficionado, where was your poker visor? 🙂 Excellent episode this week, Professor!
Very interesting and entertaining 15 minutes 🏴👍🏻
There are a lot of "Wildflowers" in the old west that THG should explore!
Great video.
Love your videos
I have Loved watching your videos ever since you put out the video about apples, which was your first video I watched. I really want to thank you for pronunciation or is it enunciating, whichever I want to thank you for Pronouncing Nevada correctly. There is another channel I following who refuses to pronounce Nevada correctly, even though I have commented and included a video of President Trump in Las Vegas telling the world how to pronounce Nevada correctly. He is a Dr, not a medical type, so you would think someone who has DR. in the title of his channel would want to pronounce Nevada correctly. Again Thank You.
Thank you History Guy,
"Check your sources" - One could make countless videos about people who didn't check their sources.
Do you mean the Time Life Old West encyclopedia set lied?!
Legend tells of an incredible hero. Carto-Man. Half of his body is a regular human, but the other half is made up of a key from a map.
The man, the myth, the legend.
Boooo! Take my like and begone to the punners' prison!
The mid-Twentieth Century version of tall tales in the press usually involved stories about flying saucers. There was an entire "dime novel" industry around this too.
I appreciate you and thank you for making content.
Yeah! He said Nevada right! 🥳
11:00 "Palisades Amusement Park, swings all day and after dark." Those who are my age and from the NYC area will remember.
I enjoyed this one,thank you,History guy.
Oatman, Arizona was the last time I saw a "gunfight". At Silverwood theme park in Athol. Idaho they had "train robberies". I don't know if they still do these things anymore but it was entertainment in the west.
Beautiful, and _timely_, piece.
I heard a podcast episode about the baron of Arizona, which, however accurate that tale is or isn't, it is one of my favorite old west hoax stories
Williams Arizona at the entrance to the grand canyon is another place that is acting out the old west and they stop the old train as you go up the canyon , come aboard the train and rob it along with shootouts.
Solar armor would have a completely different meaning today! 😂
I now live in Nevada, thank you for pronouncing it correctly ,,always love your stuff
Interesting, as always.
I'm from Kansas. In 1969, I visited Philadelphia. They seemed to think the "West" began at Pittsburgh. I finally got tired of being asked if we still had "Indian troubles". I started saying, "Yeah, but we keep fighting them off!" LOL!
My family has been in the West for over 150 years and we still love tall tales - the more outrageous the better. We knew about the corruption but if some Easterner believed that somebody was honest, the better the joke.
*Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.*
Just because it's a myth does it make it worthless
Our dad used to read to us at bedtime when we were boys. Somewhere we came across a rather large paperback book with sketches. It was named Pioneer Nevada and each page contained a short story about happenings in the Nevada territory. Many of the stories were about the silver rush of that time. Some were about hoaxes as well.
If you ever run across a copy I highly recommend it.
Why, I bought me a bag of them roll around stones while back. I pitched them into a dry lake bed in death valley.
They've been rollin round on there own ever since!
Hear tale you can read bout it over that there Internet from time to time.
modern mainstream media has taken this to new heights, new subject material (maybe) and we're just now figuring it out.
Well the sensationalistic infotainment media certainly deserts credit, their efforts are small compared to the propagation of misinformation through the medium of social media.
Those who are not wary & are too credulous are the victims of self-inflicted ignorance
In doing research on my family history I've come numerous articles and bits in old newspapers in the 1800s involving a relative of mine. He planted many of them himself it seems for self promotion or some other reason. One saying he inherited a fortune from an uncle in Germany. He didn't have an uncle in Germany.
HG - As a huge fan of Mark Twain's scribblings (especially like his newspaper articles), I just KNEW you would have to mention him in this video ! Could you please cover some of the other less known writers who were also known for their humor ? You mentioned Dan DeQuille, but can you give us some other names too ? I want to look up their articles and read their stuff too. Thanks !
I would like to see some stories on Cerro Gordo and Brett who is there now I think would love to hear stories about the place he lives.
I live by Tombstone Arizona and even now the stories and the facts don’t line up. lol
Around the turn of the century my Great Grandmother and her friends staged a battle between cowboys an Indians in view of a western bound train in Nevada. They were thrilled a few days later when an account of the battle was published in San Francisco paper.
I once lived in a abandoned trailer outside of Kingston NV. I was on the run from a failure to appear warrant out of Reno. I was using my middle name as an alias and I spent a lot of time working for locals I met at the local drinking hole. I had a lot of fun and I worked really hard. One night I was sitting on a sofa smoking a bowl with a cool couple and the old lady who I was renting a room from. Whilst watching TV my with everyone my face came up on Renos most wanted😂
Awkward. The couple got freaked out and called one of the 2 cops who were responsible for that vast territory and the chase was on. The lady who rented me the room had my back and after two weeks of running around the big smoky valley avoiding Trooper Charlie Brown (actual name) she smuggled me to a friend down towards the Hadley Gold Mine and he smuggled me in his truck to Battle Mountain where I got on a train to SLC where a close Army buddy gave me a couch for a while.
I've long since cleaned up that warrant and my act in the process but that is my Wild West story.
Source please 😂😂
Loved the part about the gun fights .
😂❤😂
My husband's grandpa's great grandpa died in an old west shootout! He was in defending the governor of Colorado's house, is how the story goes. Some guy wanted something and there was a standoff with the ancestor, and it seemed resolved so the ancestor bent down to retrieve gis gun to walk away, and the other guy got spooked and shot him.
Sam Clemens' friend, Bret Hart, also used his position with a newspaper to tell stories. The story about the jumping frogs contest in Calaveras County, CA, has been turned into an annual event now.
I have never laughed this hard about an old west story. Thank you.
I find it odd in the UK in the 1860 was very different culture and politicalwise compared to the expanding US of the same time. Maybe I should find 2024 US also somewhat likewise different compared to UK today too.
Thank you for pronouncing Nevada correctly.
I REALLY THINK IT STARTED WITH THE CATTLE DRIVES OR EVEN BEFORE THE CATTLE DRIVES START WITH THE MOUNTAIN MEN
Thank for pronouncing Nevada correctly.
The problem with this video is the hoaxes of Sam Clemins are widely known, there was even a Bonanza episode on it. Videos on hoaxes some people still believe would be appreciated, like the myth of men getting rich selling shovels during a gold rush. The reality was it was so expensive to haul goods across the frontier that those men were just as liable as the miners to go bankrupt.
Love it
The story of the stones followed by the mention of Death Valley triggered a memory of something that is true. The wandering stones in Death Valley. It's a pretty cool place to go see if you happen to be in the area. It took some time for scientists to come up with the cause of these stones moving across a basin on their own (leaving trails).
Yep, newspapers in the West were pretty sketchy, and that sketchiness lasted well into the 20th Century. There's also the petrified pygmy found in Nevada, and the Egyptian cave in the Grand Canyon, and a host of other myths that are almost all tracible to these newspapers. Hey, it drove readership - kinda like the Enquirer does today. Add all that to the folks back in the East buying into the whole mythology of the West...... Yep, check your facts, and always be careful of things that seem too good or too bad to be true.
In many ways, the "Wild West" was as much a creation of storytelling as it was a historical reality. These myths reinforced the idea of the West as a place of danger, adventure, and endless opportunity, adding to its mystique and allure-an image that endures to this day in popular culture.
May I quote my dad? Remember this, "a news agency is a business, if they do not sell you a story, they go out of business".
How odd. I stopped in Palisade during a trip through Eastern Nevada in May. Saw the graveyard but the townsite had been mostly obliterated by searchers & floods. Clemens is quoted as commenting on mining issues ( he worked for a short time in a mine in Aurora, but was put off by manuel labor) The quote is " a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it" Most propectors only worked their discovery to prove it up & then sold the claim to developers. BTW, Palisade was not a mining town. It was a railroad junction where ores from Eureka & other local mines such as Hamilton, were transferred from the Eureka & Palisade RR to the Central Pacific for transport to the refinery in either Utah or Frisco. The town also served local ranches. which still exist.
Dear History Guy, you may be interested in a small Wyoming
town history book written by the last of the old timers, "Times Past." Glenrock, Wyoming Historical museum has a few copies. Real tails remembered and told by a struggling people.
Flies Dan'l, Flies!!!