OLD WEST LEGENDS - Adventures in the American West

This isn't really a poker entry today but it is about the old west in the 1870's in the United States and poker is credited with being one of the games of choice in the old west.

Unique to the United States is the period in the 1800's when there were Cowboys, Indians, Sherriffs, outlaws, gold strikes, silver strikes, gold and silver busts, and boom towns and ghost towns. The closest thing to the United States west may be Australia's outback and the history of their settlement.

I grew up watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, John Wayne, Gunsmoke and Bonanza, Wyatt Earp Bat Masterson, and Have Gun-Will Travel, to name just a few. My brothers and I had six shooter toy guns and B-B guns. When I was real young I would "ride" my stick pony all over the house and yard. Westerns and the west was a big part of my youth.

Recently my taste for the west has been sated by the HBO series, Deadwood. I have watched the first two seasons and just recently found out that season 3 will be its last and I have yet to see that. They are suppose to make two 2 hour specials on HBO to take the place of season 4 but they are not sure if they same actors will be involved. If they are not it won't be the same.

I know that Deadwood is just a glorified soap opera with some foul language and a bit more action but I do really enjoy it. It even made me wonder how true this series was and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that much of it is very factual and some is based on fact with timelines stretched and some characters painted different shades that real life and, of course, much of it is fiction.

Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane, Seth Bullock played by Timothy Olyphant and Sol Star played by John Hawkes were very real characters in Deadwood. Swearengen was the owner of the Gem Saloon and was a real son of a bitch. Sol Star and Seth Bullock did open a hardware store. Seth Bullock did go on to become a Law Enforcment officer. Many of the other characters are based on true life figures, too. Of course Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane are well known in western History, but Charlie Udder, E. B. Farnum, Dan Dority, Johnny Burns, A.W. Merrick and Tom Nuttal are all based on real people.

If you like the HBO show Deadwood as much as I do then check out this site, HBO's Deadwood - Fact & Fiction to find out the the truth behind HBO's Deadwood.

This is probably the best site I have ever found about the old west - OLD WEST LEGENDS - Adventures in the American West