In old Omaha, the scent of opium wafted through saloon doors, while prostitutes openly solicited customers. When the St. Elmo theater ran short of the usual entertainment, the residents could always fall back on robbing strangers. Tenants of the Burnt District squirmed under the extorting thumb of a furniture dealer dubbed the Man-Landlady. The games of chance and confidence and outright municipal graft all played a part in a wicked city where gambler Tom Dennison ran politics and Madam An...

All traces of Captain Caldwell�s Potawatomi settlement and the Mormon safe haven of Kanesville were gone from the Indian Creek hollow by 1900, when Council Bluffs already seemed a 20th-century city of bright lights, steam, and smokestacks. The old western trails and steamboats disappeared as the city on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite Omaha became a major American railroad center and the industrial and commercial hub of southwest Iowa. Vineyards and orchards surrounded a growi...

How did Omaha get its nickname, “The Gateway to the West” and where can you gawk at the footsteps of the first human to walk in space? Just scratch the surface of a city best known for Warren Buffett, college baseball, and a great zoo and find far more than meets the eye. And Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is just the book you’ll need to uncover all the stories of Nebraska’s lone metropolis.Omaha rises up out of the low broken bluffs along the west bank o...

Duluth's majestic Glensheen Mansion, featuring thirty-nine ornate rooms and expansive landscaped grounds. Minneapolis's stunning Purcell-Cutts House, a showplace of finely crafted woodwork of Prairie School design. Stevens County's Trantow Log Cabin, built in the German style with dovetailed log corners. Minnesota has a remarkable array of house museums, each with its own unique history and architectural significance. Minnesota Open House features nearly two hundred of these grand mansions...

This edition in the American Trails Revisited series explores the Oregon Trail through Wyoming. The route of the southern Cherokee Trail route along U.S. Highway 30, the main Oregon-California-Mormon Emigrant Road entering the state on U.S. Highway 26, as well as the side routes of the California-Mormon Trail through Fort Bridger and the Lander Cut-Off through the Thompson Pass, are explored in this guide. Over 300 historic sites and points of interest are documented, with detailed driving...

This edition in the Historical Cities series explores the history and historic places of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. Over 80 points of interest are presented, with reference maps to assist navigation and GPS coordinates for all listed sites. Also included are sites in Independence, Missouri and Shawnee, Kansas.

Where The West Lives! Golden's motto sums up the colorful history of the small town set at the entrance to the storied gold fields of Colorado. The scenic valley that shelters Golden caught the notice of some of the most famed pioneers of the West: explorer Major Stephen Long, world traveler Isabella Bird, showman Buffalo Bill Cody, and brewer Adolph Coors. Chronicled here in over 200 vintage images is the history of this quintessential "rough-and-ready" Western town. Serving as the territ...

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer o...

As an adjunct to the book A Pathway of Dreams, On the Greenbelt is a travel guide to the Boise Greenbelt path system, a system much-loved by users but one that is not always as easy to navigate as it may appear. The Greenbelt, after all, is part of a growing and changing Ada County. In the course of its construction and expansion, accommodations had to be made – and continue to be made – for such things as the course of the river and its channels, existing property uses, construction proje...

Southern California�s hidden treasure lies in the San Jacinto Mountains. Capped by the last 10,000-foot peaks on the way to Mexico, these mountains have enriched human lives for centuries. Discovered by loggers in 1876, partially stripped of their trees during California�s first population boom in the 1880s, then protected by federal edict in 1897, these mountains attracted a special breed of settler. The uncommon village of Idyllwild was created by common people who were enchanted by the ...

A stone shrine shrouded in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore is a symbol of democracy and freedom. Infographics, fact boxes, sidebars, and primary historic photos tell the story of this famous monument and the men who built it.

Born from the success of the Erie Canal, the communities of Western New York enjoyed a century of growth and prosperity during America's Gilded Age. Buffalo was one of the richest cities in America and dominated industry and politics, producing two presidents. Wealth and architectural opportunity enticed figures like Frank Lloyd Wright, while the events of the Pan-American Exposition and a presidential assassination and inauguration attracted the world's attention. Drawing on the natural r...