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Between 1954 and 1957, actress Gail Davis portrayed famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the television series of the same name.  Known as the “Queen of the Wild Frontier,” Davis was only five foot two and the pigtails she wore in the show were her own.  Her father was a surgeon in McGehee, Arkansas, which was...

Mrs. Frank “Tobey” Riddle, better known as Winema, was a mediator for the Modoc people, other Indian tribes in the area of Klamath Lake, Oregon, and the United States Army in early 1878.  With her skills she was able to negotiate treaties that kept the land of her ancestors in peace.  Whenever that peace was...

On June 15, 1853, a vivacious, petite woman stepped cheerfully off a stagecoach in Nevada City, California, dressed with all the style of Princess Eugenia of Sweden and Norway.  As she strolled into the National Hotel with her dainty steps and her bustle looping back and forth, she made a decision to changer her name...

The most influential woman at Republic Pictures from the early 1940s to the studio’s demise in the early 1960s, was Vera Hruba.  Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on July 12, 1919, the blonde beauty caught Republic Picture’s president Herbert Yates’ attention in 1939 when she toured the United States with an ice-skating show called Ice Vanities. ...

In many of the films actress Anne Jeffreys made for motion picture studios like Republic Pictures she either played a cowgirl or a damsel in perilous situations.  Neither the studio nor the performer could imagine how much those movies would affect the lives of young, ticket buyers.  A letter from a fan written to Republic Pictures in...

Two-time Spur Award winning author C.K. Crigger delivers a compelling, action-packed romance with her new title, The Yeggman’s Apprentice. First, a definition: A “yeggman” is a burglar, specifically a person who breaks into safes.  In Crigger’s book, set in the early 20th Century, the yeggman’s apprentice is a young woman.  Wilkie (Wilhelmina) Van Slyke is...

Viking lore holds that the first man and woman were created from driftwood. The ash and elm wood used to make the pair were reported to have been exquisite and anyone who made items using the same type of driftwood would bring beauty to their home that would last forever. Author and home project enthusiast Linda...

New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick’s latest book is a charming, coming-of-age story that is destined to become a lasting treasure.  Based on actual events that transpired on one of the first pioneer wagon journeys over the Sierra Nevada, One More River to Cross is replete with examples of determination and fortitude. In 1844,...