As
far as we know we were the first on the web to offer more than
just a paragraph as an excerpt from a fiction novel.
That was 10 years ago.
The
nine excepts from The Last Best West constitute about
35 pages of the novel and when read in order, give the reader
a strong sense for the characters, drama, and adventure
of The Last Best West.Story
Synopsis
If
you enjoy these excerpts we guarantee you'll enjoy the rest
- or your money back. No bull.
Just $21.95 for this compelling old west adventure story. Shipping
is $8.00 total = $29.95. Book
is ~5.5 x 8.5 in. Full color cover - Printed on recycled paper.
Back
in May, 2006 we were rounded up to work on a re-enactment of
the moment when Jack McCall walked into Tom Nuttal's #10 Saloon
on Aug 2 1876, in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, and murdered Wild
Bill Hickok.
Longfellow,
and other modern day Gunfighters, worked closely with the producers
to create the right atmosphere, setting, and circumstances for
that infamous second. Everything was set up like a movie set
at Heritage Park in Calgary (an authentic 19th century town).
That's
our pard, Red Cahoun, in
the ill-fated role of Wild Bill, Longfellow (I just found out
I was the harbinger of death, hell I don't even know
what State Harbinger's in!) at the door about to come
in and Good Bob behind Red's (Hickok's) right shoulder. After
about 5 hours of taking digital pictures from every conceivable
angle - we were done.
Old
West Historian, Entertainment Gunfighter, Old West Performer
and Cowboy Hat Expert, Longfellow is an IT Professional,
Graphic Artist and the chief Designer of The Last
Best West.
Longfellow
has more than 20 years of experience as an Expert Retail
Leader and as the chief designer of The Last Best West,
takes a hand in all new hat, leather and knife designs.
Along the way Sonja and he still manage to do dozens of
Wild West Shows around Calgary and the West. SASS members,
Longfellow enjoys Cowboy Action Shooting when he can get
out.
A
lifelong athlete and Sportsman, Longfellow has been playing
hockey since he was 5 and still plays most of the year.
The
Silver Spur Gunfighters
We
Love our Customers
One of the most rewarding things about operating this
website is hearing from visitors and customers about
how entertaining and informative they find our old
west content and how pleased they are with our custom
products. Some people have even suggested The Last
Best West is the trend setter and at the
forefront of a renaissance in cowboy hats and values.
To all these people we humbly say thankee-thankee.
And to all the people that keep the Old West alive
in performance groups, living history, and SASS participation
we wish you all the best for helping us Keep
the Faith. Testimonials::
All
our Contact Information.
People
tell us that only at thelastbestwest.com did they
learn what goes into making a great hat. As well many
visitors thank us for introducing them to a dusty
western film or actor. We are proud to shine some
light on a little known classic western movie or lengthen
the shadow of an old actor. As for all those great
western movies, a famous actor who was visiting on
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) once said, "Any
movie is a new movie if you haven't seen it before."
Turner Classic Movies is a fabulous source for
great old westerns, all the way back to the silent
era.
Help
us Help You! Folks
we've invested 10 years and thousands of hours
into
developing The Last Best West.com into a content rich
old west website, full of well made, original, products.
Please take the time to explore the website - in almost
all situations your answers are here. The most important
page on this website - as it is on all website's -
is our HOME
PAGE. On there you will find
links to all other pages on this website.
If you need help or have a question
please e-mail
I've
long been a collector of quotes. I find they perfectly
capture a moment, a feeling, or a situation in such
a way that it can inspire or compel you. Here's a
few you may enjoy.
On
Life
Give
more than you get.
If
a man isn't a humanist when he's 20 - he has no heart.
If he isn't a conservative when he's 40 - he has no
brain. -
Winston Churchill
The
less I do, the busier I am.
May
you live all the days of your life. - Jonathan
Swift
I
had a lover's quarrel with the world. -
Robert Frost
No
matter where you go - there you are!
Hope
is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. - Francis
Bacon
If
you always do what you've done - you'll always get
what you've got.
For
me there is only the traveling on paths that have
heart, on any path that may have heart. And there
I travel, looking, looking, breathlessly.-
don Juan Matus (From Carlos Castaneda)
Do
what you love and you will never work a day in your
life. - Confucius
Never
complain, never explain, and never say you're sorry.
Hockey icon Don Cherry
People
The
more people I meet - the better I like my dog.
God
must love the common man - he made so many of them.
- Abraham
Lincoln
The
tumultuous populace of large cities are always to
be dreaded.
- George Washington
When
a true genius appears in the world you may know him
from this sign: That all the dunces are in confederacy
against him. - Jonathan
Swift
All
the world loves an outlaw, for some damn reason they
remember 'em -
Jesse James
When
ever someone says, it is not about the money - that
is exactly what it is about.
Too
bad that all the people who know how to run the country
are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
- George Burns
Sports/Odds
and Sods
Either
you give it right back or the next thing you know
everyone and his brother will be trying you on for
size. - 1960s hockey star, Doug Harvey
on being a player.
The
secret to managing is to keep the 6 guys that like
you away from the 6 that hate your guts.
Legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel.
There's
lies, damn lies, and statistics.
- Hall of Fame hockey coach Scotty Bowman.
Never
miss a good opportunity to shut up. - Will Rogers
Beer
is living proof that God loves us and wants us to
be happy. - Benjamin
Franklin
Any
society that would give up a little liberty to gain
a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
- Benjamin Franklin
If
a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in
doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts,
he shall end in certainties. -- Francis
Bacon
Opinions
are like assholes - everyone's got one.
The
most indispensable tool for any writer is a built
in, shock proof, shit detector. - Ernest
Hemingway.
Tracer
rounds work both ways. - US Army training
manual.
Here's
a poem that seems to put individual trials
and tribulations into perspective. Feeling
down? Have a read and be inspired.
If
- by Rudyard Kipling
(1865-1936)
If
you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt
you,
But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal with lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If
you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts
your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you've
spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out-tools;
If
you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and
sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If
you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt
you, If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And — which is more — you'll be a Man
(COWBOY!), my son!
Here's
some of the most common questions I get asked.
When
did you first become interested in the Old West?
When I was about five I learned that Jesse
James and I share the same birthday, September
5. From that moment on I was hooked on the Old West,
and any facts I came across seemed to stick to me
like stink on a skunk.
When
I was a teenager I learned my families background,
how my American ancestors moved from Virginia to Sagemon
County, Illinois, in 1842. After the Civil War my
great-grand parents met and wed in Illinois, and years
later they moved their young family to the Devils
Lake area of North Dakota - where my Grandfather
Cyrus was born in 1893.
During
the The Last Best Years - 1896 - 1914 - immigrants
were flocking into the mostly uninhabited western
prairies and foothills of the Canadian West, including
mine. In 1903 my great uncles, Elan, and Daniel, took
to horseback and rode north and west along the border
and into the southern Northwest Territories of Canada.
My Great-Uncle Elan was quite an adventurer: He was
a Cavalry Trooper and served under Teddy Roosevelt
in the 1898 Spanish-American War. When the brothers
returned the family decided to relocate into western
Canada, and did so in 1905 on horse back and in covered
wagons. My Grandfather - who lived to be 102 - was
12 at the time, and 1905 was also the same year that
the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed
from the Northwest Territories of Canada.
When
for you did the old west start and finish?
I
go against the norm here - well the finish anyway:
I believe the old west years started with the first
Texas Longhorn cattle drives in 1866 and went to 1908
when Butch and Sundance were killed in Bolivia. Most
think the Old West ended in 1900, but it seems to
me there was still a lot of "Wild" out west
for decades to come. You could even argue convincingly
that it lasted till May 14 1916 when George Patton
engaged in perhaps the last Old West gunfight in Mexico.
What
do you think the rudest thing you could ask a traditional
cowboy?
Three
things: To explain himself, anything about his name,
or where he came from. The
Code of the Old West
What's
the most memorable old west show you've done?
That's
easy - and not because it was the best show we ever
did. In 2004 the RCMP celebrated the 130th anniversary
of their ride west to Fort Macleod (southern Alberta
about 100 miles from the Montana border) to stop the
illegal whisky trade and establish Canadian control
of this enormous wilderness area. We were asked to
come out and give about 30 minutes of entertainment
which always includes a marshals outlaws confrontation.
Everybody likes a good shoot 'em up. The event was
held at the rodeo field in Fort Macleod, and all the
best people were there, including the commissioner
of the RCMP. Anyway to cut to the quick: I played
a rowdy outlaw, and after harassing the crowd for
a number of minutes our "Gang" was chased
off by the Marshals. . er. . .Mounties. When we were
walking back down the bleachers, the RCMP Commish
was eyeing me pretty good, so I eyeballed him pretty
hard back and snarled loudly, "What are YOU
looking at!"
Which
cracked up the other two "Outlaws" I was
with. Kind of odd ;} that we've never been invited
back; but we still laugh about that one.
Why
don't you have a Blog/Facebook/Twitter?
Just
don't have the time (I'm hard pressed to update this
page) - besides can't believe that people would be
interested in my day to day activities, or what my
current rant is on. I can't understand those people
that have the time to do daily blog's or constantly
twitter. I mean come on hug some leather and get a
life. My Grandfather used to tell me there was two
types of people: Talkers and Doers. I like to think
I'm a Doer. Now, fair dinkum, Grandpa Albert was also
the one that told me that there was three types
of people - them's that can add, and them's that can't.
Reincarnation
- by Wallace McRae
"What
does Reincarnation mean?"
A cowpoke asked his friend.
His pal replied, "It happens when
Yer life has reached its end.
They comb yer hair, and warsh yer neck,
And clean yer fingernails,
And lay you in a padded box
Away from life's travails."
"The
box and you goes in a hole,
That's been dug into the ground.
Reincarnation starts in when
Yore planted 'neath a mound.
Them clods melt down, just like yer box,
And you who is inside.
And then yore just beginnin' on
Yer transformation ride."
"In
a while, the grass'll grow
Upon yer rendered mound.
Till some day on yer moldered grave
A lonely flower is found.
And say a hoss should wander by
And graze upon this flower
That once wuz you, but now's become
Yer vegetative bower."
"The
posy that the hoss done ate
Up, with his other feed,
Makes bone, and fat, and muscle
Essential to the steed,
But some is left that he can't use
And so it passes through,
And finally lays upon the ground
This thing, that once wuz you."
"Then
say, by chance, I wanders by
And sees this upon the ground,
And I ponders, and I wonders at,
This object that I found.
I thinks of reincarnation,
Of life and death, and such,
And come away concludin': 'Slim,
You ain't changed, all that much.'"
Some
friends of Longfellow - go ahead
and click for a bigger pic. Yer welcome. :)
Mouthy
Gambler skit at End of Trails in Cody, Wyoming, 2006
Photographer: Tyson Irion - Lone Wolf Photography, Cody
Wyoming.
Dodge City
Peace Commission photo of 1876
Seated Left to right: Charley Bassett, Wyatt Earp,
Frank McLain, Neal Brown.
Back Row from Left: Longfellow
(recruited in 2007), Luke Short, Bat Masterson, and W. F. Petillon.
/170_wasey_stition_255.jpg)
/185_jesse_james_275.jpg)
