Wild West Podcast
Welcome to the Wild West Podcast, winner of the 2026 Best of Western Podcast award, where fact and legend merge. We present the true accounts of individuals who settled in towns built out of hunger for money, regulated by fast guns, who walked on both sides of the law, patrolling, investing in, and regulating the brothels, saloons, and gambling houses. These are stories of the men who made the history of the Old West come alive - bringing with them the birth of legends, brought to order by a six-gun and laid to rest with their boots on. Join us as we take you back in history to the legends of the Wild West. You can support our show by subscribing to Exclusive access to premium content at Wild West Podcast + https://www.buzzsprout.com/64094/subscribe or just buy us a cup of coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwestpodcast
Episodes
338 episodes
"Whiskey, Wagons, and Warning Shots: The Birth of Buffalo City”
Journey into the raw, untamed frontier of June 1872 with former buffalo hunter turned saloon owner George W. Brown. In this gripping episode, Brown details the chaotic birth of Buffalo City—a bustling boomtown sparked when a strict military ban...
Buffalo Days: The Prairie Dog Business
Step back in time to the summer of 1872 and experience the raw, untamed spirit of the American frontier. Narrated through the vivid recollections of George W. Brown, this episode transports listeners directly onto the sun-drenched plains of Kan...
Uncover the Truth of the Trail: The Wild West Podcast Takes You Inside Dodge City’s Longhorn Legacy!
Saddle up and tune in to this thrilling episode of the Wild West Podcast, hosted by Brad Smalley! The show shines a spotlight on an upcoming doubleheader event in Dodge City, Kansas, featuring Dr. Frank Sharp—an educator, author, cattl...
Part 6: Blood, Mud, and Wasted Hides
In episode 6 of Buffalo Days, the narrative opens with a sudden and intense prairie storm that triggers a massive buffalo stampede. As lightning strikes and kills a bull in the herd, the animals scatter in panic, threatening to crush t...
Part 5: The Sharpshooter's Stand
Before sunrise, Josiah Wright Mooar sets out with Jim White to learn the technique of buffalo hunting from a stand. Moving six miles out, they locate a massive herd, utilizing the cover of sandhills and a riverbank to approach the animals while...
Part 4: Echoes of the Saline: Buffalo Soldiers, Indian Fight and Jim White's Confession
Part Four of Buffalo Days details the intense encounters between the U.S. Army and 400 Native Americans and a regiment of "Buffalo Soldiers"—and the resilient Indigenous warriors of the Great Plains.The section also features a m...
Part 3: The Buffalo Rig Deal: A Bargain at Fort Hays
Part Three of Buffalo Days details Josiah Wright Mooar's transition into the life of a buffalo hunter on the American Great Plains during the 1870s. Mooar recounts the arduous process of outfitting an expedition, highlighting the logis...
Part 2: A New Enterprise on the Western Frontier
Josiah Wright Moore, a young New Englander who traveled to Fort Hays, Kansas, in 1870 to make his fortune, recounts his initial struggles and a pivotal meeting with an experienced buffalo hunter named Jim White. After deciding to transition fro...
Part 1: The Shifting Plains: Buffalo and the Frontier Economy
The Seline River Valley in Kansas was once home to immense migrating herds of shaggy buffalo that darkened the plains as far as the eye could see. These animals grazed on succulent buffalo and grama grass, drank from the local creeks and rivers...
The Masher’s Mockery: How Luke McGlue Framed the Dodge City Lady-Killer
This historical yarn recounts the classic frontier hazing of "Herb," a boastful Dodge City resident who claimed to be an irresistible lady-killer but instead fell hook, line, and sinker for a mail-order prank. Orchestrated by local tricksters, ...
Part 2 SWEDISH BUFFALO HUNTER Audiobook
Seeking adventure, Carl Ludvig Hendricks leaves Dodge City with a team of hunters to track buffalo across the untamed Kansas plains. Over the course of a year, the group braves harsh winter weather, navigates treacherous terrain, and constructs...
Part 1 SWEDISH BUFFALO HUNTER Audiobook
The story opens in the waning light of 1872, as Carl Ludvig Hendricks boards a steamship in Liverpool, the salt air thick with anticipation and the sharp tang of coal smoke. The decks soon fill with a raucous knot of Irish travelers, their laug...
A Promise Across The Plains
A man rides east through New Mexico with a coffin in his wagon, charcoal packed tight to fight decay, because his dying friend asked for one last mercy: don’t bury me in a foreign place. That single promise opens the door to the full, complicat...
Fanning The Hammer Is A Great Way To Lose
The Wild West didn’t run on courage alone. It ran on nerve, repetition, and a cold understanding that “the law” often arrived as a Colt revolver, not a badge. We take you into the real world behind the legends of Old West gunfighters, using sha...
A Punitive March Turns Into A Saber Charge On The Kansas Frontier
A river can look calm and still be a trap. We drop into the Solomon River valley in 1857, where the U.S. Army launches what many consider the first true campaign against the Plains Indians in this series: the Cheyenne Campaign of 1857, better k...
"Jeb" Stuart's Letter About The Battle of Solomon’s Fork
A 17-day march ends with a shock of movement on the open Plains: roughly 300 Cheyenne warriors in line of battle and the US cavalry scrambling to form up before the infantry can even arrive. That’s the doorstep of the Battle of Solomon Fork, th...
A Handful Of Men Mark The Gateway West
Mud, rain, and a riverbank so soft every step sinks, that’s where Fort Dodge begins. We rewind to April 10, 1865, and follow Captain Henry Pearce and a tired group of soldiers as they plant a military post on the Arkansas River while most of th...
The Killing Of Ed: April 9, 1878
Dodge City doesn’t just welcome the cattle drives; it feeds on them. When the herds arrive, so do the wages, the whiskey, the gambling, and the dance halls, and the town’s “wide open” side of the tracks turns into a nightly test of nerve for an...
What Does It Take To Turn Chaos Into Law
A county doesn’t feel “real” until paperwork can beat chaos, and Ford County’s origin story proves it. We head back to April 5, 1873, when Kansas Governor Thomas Osborne signs the proclamation that creates Ford County and forces Dodge City to s...
Andrew Russell: Ford’s Founding Day
A town doesn’t start with a skyline. Sometimes it starts with frost-stiff grass, a quiet riverbank, and a man deciding the future should live right here. We’re looking back at Tuesday, April 8, 1884, the day that marks the birth of Ford, Kansas...
We’ve got some big news from the frontier!
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Wild West Podcast has been ranked #3 on PodRanker’s list of the Top 15 Best Western Podcasts of 2026! A huge thank you to our incredible listeners for riding along wit...
Iron Deadline
A railroad can feel inevitable when you see it on a map. Up close, it’s a gamble with a hard deadline, exhausted men, and miles of empty country that refuse to cooperate. We pick up the Santa Fe’s high-stakes race across the Arkansas Valley, wh...
April 1, 1939 Turns Dodge City Into Hollywood
April 1 in the Great Plains isn’t just a punchline. We start with the kind of frontier humor that could make or break you: trail-boss tricks like sending a newcomer for a bucket of steam, and Dodge City stunts so convincing they leave bystander...
Boot Hill Unmasked: The Real People Behind Dodge City’s Deadliest Year
Boot Hill gets talked about like a legend, but legends get lazy. We wanted the names, the dates, and the ugly little details that show how Dodge City earned its reputation before the “classic” era of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson even settles in...
