In Search of Jesse James in Adair Iowa: G.C. Stevens

 

I now come down to the Iowa train robbery, which occurred the 21st of July, 1873, and which filled all western Missouri with spies, detectives and armed men in search of us. The newspapers made me out the leader of the band. With me, according to the papers, were Frank James, Arthur McCoy and the two Youngers. You remember the outlines of the robbery. A rail was removed from the track resulting in an engineer killed and a general rifling of an express car thought to contain money belonging to the United States. An Iowa sheriff named Bringolf came down to Kansas City with a pocket full of requisitions. He made some magnificent promises, not a few threats, hunted everywhere except in the right place, and, as far as I'm informed, is still in Kansas City waiting for something to turn up. 

- Jesse James

- A Terrible Quintet by John Newman Edwards from Jesse James: The Best Writings on the Notorious Outlaw and His Gang by Harold Dellinger.

  

11/23/2025,

 During my recent presentation at the James Farm, in Kearny Missouri, I met a member of the Friends of The James Farm, Dennie Anderson. He told me he was from Iowa and, I later learned that he was an avid genealogist and a descendant of Jesse James. He was very interested in Jesse James connection to Iowa. So, I gave him my information, and he reached out to me via email. We decided to meet at the site of the 1873 Adair Iowa Train Robbery. I also wanted to get back to Adair to take a look around to see if I could locate the old railroad section house that was mentioned in the history. As the story goes the James Gang went to the section house (see photos below) commandeered some tools from the house to use in the train robbery.

 I met Dennie and his wife Vonda at the location and we walked the site. We did a closer examination of the remnants of the train bridge, took photos, and did some minor metal detecting, though nothing of any value was located as a result of the metal detector scan. And due to conditions only a small area was examined.  The terrain there is rough and overgrown with vegetation. So, it's a fairly difficult site to detect at. Before I went out to the site. I went online and located some satellite photos of the train robbery site on Google earth (see photo below). 

The Train Bridge

It was observed that it appeared that several sections of rail were embedded in the large pile of debris that is now on top of part of a section the old railroad bridge. Several decent photos of the rails were taken of sections of track.  And I was able to snap clear photos of the ends of the rails, which is very important, because the configuration of train rails is well documented, and can give us a fairly good time frame on when the track was manufactured. I sent the photos to Mike Wendel who is the Director of the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad Museum in Boone Iowa. They examined those pictures and returned this response:

Our track person here said the track is old, probably 1870s. Phil said that you would need to measure the height of the rail and look on its sides for printing. Very interesting photos Gene if you find yourself out there again in the future and try to see more of the sides of the rail it may help. Really appreciate you sending these. 

-Mike Wendell Museum Director

 

A monument dedicated to the famed robbery located at 

Melvin Memorial Park Adair Iowa

Photo by the author

A photo of the section house that appeared on 

the facebook page "Abandoned Iowa" posted by Andrew Haus.

The information stated that this house which once housed a

 "Jesse James Museum" had been torn town

Photo google earth. A direct look at the old bridge site

noting an unusual gouge in the terrain adjacent to bridge area

An overview of the entire site

The old railroad bridge looking east down Turkey Creek. 

Photo by the Author

Track can be seen buried in the mound of dirt and debris 

photo by the author

Pilings from the bridge. Actual age unknown

A very old an pitted section of rail or track plate photos by the author

A very clear picture of the very end of a piece of track. The photo 

is very important, and the configuration of railroad tracks 

are very documented and can determine that age 

and manufacturer of the track.

Photos by the Author

Same as above. Though its worth noting that this particular track

is very different and has a flare in the bottom of it. 

Bottom picture courtesy of 

https://drrajivdesaimd.com/2017/10/28/derailment/

Copyright 2025

Great American Westerns America's 250th Anniversary & Dusty Saddles Publishing

 Dusty Saddle Publishing is saddling up for a historic new series — America250

 Celebrating 250 years of the United States through the untamed spirit of the American West. Each book in this landmark collection will spotlight true heroes of the frontier whose courage, skill, and determination helped shape the nation.

In this special episode of Dusty Trails and Tall Tales, host Matthew Pizzolato sits down with Nick Wale, publicist for DSP, and Scott McCrae, the man leading the America250 project, for an exclusive first look at what’s ahead. Together, they discuss the vision behind the series, the authors involved, and how the story of America is — at its heart — the story of the West. Join us as we celebrate the legacy, the legends, and the land that made America great!

Texas Jack's Smith & Wesson Model 3 American: By Matthew Kerns

 

Photo Courtesy of Matthew Kerns

Texas Jack's (Omohundro) Smith & Wesson Model 3 American. This gun, inscribed to Jack in 1869 while he was living at Cottonwood Springs and working out of Fort McPherson, Nebraska, was once owned by Jack's biographer, the talented woodcut artist Herschel Logan. It is now part of the collection of Mike Harvey, president of Cimarron Firearms.

Even though the Colt Peacemaker has a reputation as the revolver that won the west, Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson's Model 3 was carried by many of the most well known men of the period. Popular with both lawmen and outlaws in the American West, Model 3s were reportedly used by Jesse James and Bob Ford (who used one to kill James), John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid and his killer Pat Garrett, Theodore Roosevelt, Virgil Earp, and many others. The Smith & Wesson No. 3 revolver was famously used by Wyatt Earp during the OK Corral Gunfight with the Clanton Gang. The "Buntline Special," an extremely long-barreled Colt that featured in Stuart Lake's largely fictionalized Wyatt Earp biography, was probably a myth, as Buntline never met or knew Wyatt and never wrote about any of the peace officers in Dodge City. Jack's Model 3 is stamped U. S. and the serial number is 2008. No one is sure if the four lines on the grip are part of the normal wear of the weapon or tally marks denoting something more significant.

__________________________

Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star by Matthew Kerns, is available at:

Amazon - https://amzn.to/48fQdix

The Wild West is Blazing back into popularity, Westerns will never die.

 

The wild West is alive and well here at 

Dusty Trails of the Old West and 

The Great American Western YouTube Channel

"Why the American West is still relevant."

Thank you to "The Great American West" for their collaboration.

Rest In Peace John Fitzsimmons, "Lincoln Highway Johnny"

 

John (Lincoln Highway Johnny) Fitzsimmons (RT-Top)

LINCOLN HIGHWAY JOHNNY

It is with deep sadness that I have to report that a member of the Army of the Southwest (ASW) John Fitzsimmons has passed away. John was also known as "Lincoln Highway Johnny." John worked under this creative name to preserve local history through his art and expression. John's love was "road art" that depicted old autos, and auto related art and sculpturing and renovation of old gas pumps, road signs and much more.  He was also a member of the Lincoln Highway Association.

"John Fitzsimmons AKA “Lincoln Highway Johnny” and “The Vagabond Artist” originally hailed from Boone, IA. Currently living in Placerville, CA John travels back-and- forth across the country attending as many LHA conferences as possible. A 1992 founding member of the current LHA, John and a friend are responsible for painting LH Logos on over 186 telephone poles in and around Boone County Iowa."

ref traveler-2017-10.pdf John was the first guy I met when I started reenacting with the ASW. It wont the same without him there. He will be missed.

G.C Stevens

Thank You for Your Support G.C. Stevens

 

I'd like to personally thank everyone for their support. The CSL&OH.A. is breaking old records for viewership and followers. This blog as already broken its past record for over 2000 views for the month of November and this month isn't even half over. I'd also like to thank our contributors / writers and supporters who have purchased my books! 

THANK YOU!

Dusty Trails of The Old West Anthology

Gold.. The Story of the Lure of The West: By G.C. Stevens

 

A mine, outside of Victor, Colorado, went “nighty-night” in 1961. Loved this photo of it, and the sunset over the Sangre De Christo mountains. Photo by Dan Oelrich 

The whisper started in the east “Gold in California—ounces in every pan!” Young men and old men alike, saddle-maker’s apprentices, and adventure seekers, read it by lamplight and felt the walls of life shrink. Deep debts, damp winters, none of it mattered once the word west lodged in their chest like a bullet. Gold.... Was the draw 

By springtime, the harbors crawled with dreamers. Many sold their personal items for passage on a clipper rounding Cape Horn. Six months of gales and scurvy left them gaunt, but when the ship raised the pine-dark coast, they laughed aloud for the first time in years.  Sutter’s Fort was chaos: canvas tents, Chinese cooks, Kanaka sailors, Mormon battalion deserters—all swinging picks under a merciless sun. 

Many staked a claims on the American River where the water ran cold over black sand. Days blurred into muscle ache and the ping of iron on stone. Then, one August dawn, a young man's pan flashed yellow. A single nugget, thumb-sized, heavy as sin. He whooped so loud a grizzly answered from the ridge. Word traveled faster than wagons. Farmers abandoned plows mid-furrow; clerks bolted from ledgers; a preacher traded his Bible for a cradle. They came by oxcart, by mule, by foot across the alkali flats, dying of thirst with gold dust sewn in their hems. San Francisco, once a village of adobe and whales, sprouted saloons and three-story hotels overnight. A cup of water cost a dollar; a rotten potato, five. Some never struck it rich again, but the river gave enough to buy a ranch in the foothills. Some nights they still hear the rush of water over gravel, still sees the fever in new eyes arriving on the trail. The gold drew them west, yes—but it was the promise of open sky that kept them.

Jesse James Father left his family for the call of Gold

Photo courtesy Patrick Meguair

Robert Salle James married Zerelda Cole on December 28, 1841. His children were Alexander Franklin, Robert, Jesse and Susan Lavenia. He attended Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, graduating in 1843 with honors and a Bachelor of Arts. The family soon relocated to Clay County, Missouri, where Zerelda's mother and stepfather were living, but Robert commuted back to Kentucky and eventually received a Master of Arts from Georgetown. He was considered a gifted student and a skilled orator. James was a noted revivalist. He was among the founders of William Jewell College in 1849. In April 1850, James left his family for California to visit his brother Drury Woodson James, who had already relocated to the state He also planned to prospect for gold and preach to the crowds of goldminers during the California gold rush. Shortly after arriving in California in August 1850, he contracted cholera and died on August 18, 1850, in the Hangtown Gold Camp.

                                                 Wyatt Earp from the authors collection

After leaving Arizona, Wyatt and his wife, Josephine “Sadie” Marcus Earp, had decided to head north to Alaska to follow the cash of several of the gold rushes. Though Wyatt wasn’t looking to get rich on the end of a pick and shovel. Instead, he would be “mining the miners” by setting up a saloon and gambling operation.

Ref Wyatt Earp in Alaska - by Michael R Dougherty

Frontier Tales Rides Into The Sunset By G.C. Stevens

 

I was sad to learn that the Editor of Frontier Tales Duke Pennell had decided to move on from Frontier Tales. Duke's wife Kimberly Pennell passed away back in July of this year, and she was a major supporting leg of the western ezine. Duke had sent out an email to his readers and contributors asking if anyone wanted to take the reins at Frontier Tales. I immediately stepped up to the plate and told him that I would take Frontier Tales under our wing here at Dusty Trails of the Old West.  Duke agreed. We exchanged a couple of emails, and he was apparently going to begin the transfer, but unfortunately communication ceased at that time, and I have not heard anything since. I sent additional follow emails but no response, and the last time Frontier Tales website was updated was in September.            

Editor

Gene Stevens

Dusty Trails of the Old West Books & Publishing                                                                                                                                   

Collecting Unique and Affordable Western Collectable and Weapons by G.C. Stevens

     A few items from my collection

Don't ever let anyone tell you that ebay is worthless for collectables. There are many cool and authentic things that are bought and sold there every day. Especially western collectables. The western genre has many facets where collecting in concerned. Most of us out here cannot afford an actual item or weapon connected to a famous Lawman or outlaw. But there are many interesting items that the average collector can get their hands on. Here's some ideas for your Christmas list, and this is just a small amount of what's out there:

Vintage Toy Cap Guns: Toy cap guns told the story of old western legends and TV series. These can range in price from $20 to $80 depending on the type and condition of the cap guns. The fun oart is that many of them still work and you relive your childhood by popping a few old- time caps off.

Two vintage themed toy cap guns from my collection, Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill

Belt Buckles: Belt buckles commemorate many different events and people. My favorite ones are dedicated to historic locations and events. They run between $9 and $35.  And they cover a multitude of aspects of the wild west.

Buffalo Bill belt buckle from the authors collection

The TIFFANY Marking is misleading, as these Jesse James brass belt buckles were actually counterfeits. But from a collecting perspective. That makes this belt buckle is very unique and tips the cowboy hat to the outlaws.

Badges: This is big one. But word of caution. There are MANY REPRO badges on the market. These repro badges started to appear probably in the 1950's as souvenirs from historic sites and were later intentionally created as lookalike badges from various towns and agencies, from Tombstone to Dodge City Kansas and many other places. The badges were in many configurations, Marshals. Sheriffs, Indian Police, Railroad Police. Wells Fargo Officers etc etc.  Early reproduction marshal and sheriff badges are crafted today by companies like Denix, Collector's Armoury Ltd, and Western Stage Props. These replicas were often based on originals from museums and private collections. Some notable makers and sources of reproduction Old West law enforcement badges: Denix Known for affordable replicas like the Tombstone Marshal Badge and US Marshal badges. Often made with brass or silver finishes for a vintage look. Collector's Armoury Ltd Offers a wide range of replica badges including Deadwood Marshal, Lincoln County Sheriff, and Indian Police badges. Their badges are crafted in brass or silver and designed to resemble authentic Old West styles. Western Stage Props Specializes in stage and reenactment props, including sheriff and marshal badges. Their collection includes Tombstone, Dodge City, and Texas Ranger replicas, often priced between $7–$14. Cowboy Props Offers museum-quality replicas for collectors and reenactors. Badges are silver-plated solid brass with sturdy pin fasteners, modeled after originals found in museums. By-the-Sword Reproduces badges from originals in museums and private collections. Their badges include Apache Police, Brothel Inspector, and City Marshal styles. The Last Best West Focuses on historically accurate replicas, including badges worn by famous figures like Wild Bill Hickok and Pat Garrett. Made from steel and brass, double-stamped, silver-plated, and hand-finished for an antique look. These reproduction badges are popular among collectors, reenactors, and Western enthusiasts for their historical charm and craftsmanship. If you're looking for a specific style or era, many of these vendors offer themed collections based on famous towns or lawmen of the Old West.

An eclectic mix of actual badges and repro badges photo by the author

WESTERN FIREARMS

For those who cannot afford to purchase authentic historic western arms. There currently a number of companies that produce Replica, Co2 BB Guns and CO2 Pellet guns that are the spitting image of famous western arms. Denix Replicas, is a company that specializes in non firing antique style arms from different time periods. Barra Air guns Specializes high-end air guns and air guns that resemble historical firearms Such as their six gun, and Henry style rifles. And Umarex, which a fairly new company, that manufactures some very high-end western replica six guns. It's worth noting that the air guns mentioned here, are not toys and they do in fact have fairly high muzzle velocities. So they must be treated like real firearms.

The bottom and below rifle on this rack is the Denix "73" It is non-firing and the same size as an original. The rifle above it is the "adult size model" Daisy Red Rider

Denix replica price range approx. $170

The receiver originally came in the pewter . I painted it gold

Barra's civil war style simulated brass frame sixgun 

Price $60

The Air Venturi John Wayne "Marshal" 

$79

The author holding an Umarex Colt pistols. These air pistols are a very faithful reproduction, and they are the same size, weight and steel construction as a true six gun. And they operate using modified cartridges. and the totally operate like the real thing.

Umarex colt with black grips

Umarex Colt pistol with ivory grips

In Wyatt Earps Shadow, the Story of Morgan Earp: By G.C. Stevens

 

The name of the Wyatt Earp stirs up thoughts of gunfights and the violence of the American west and of Tombstone Arizona. But Wyatt was not alone in Tombstone. His family and their wives were there along with him. Two of his brothers joined him at the gunfight at the OK Corral on the day of fate. They were Morgan and Virgil Earp. After the gunfight, a trial was held and Wyatt and the other men who stood alongside of him there were exonerated by the law. But bad blood still existed between the Cow-boy factions in Tombstone and the Earp clan. Both Virgil Earp and Morgan would be ambushed. Virgil would be wounded and survived. Morgan would die from his gunshot wounds. 

In an article that first appeared in "Old West Magazine (1983) a story appeared which primarily introduced Morgan's common law wife, Louisa, who up until then had only been a mysterious name known through Frank Waters fictional memoir of Mrs. Virgil Earp. That story also introduced the first authentic photo of Morgan Earp. Two photos of Louisa also accompanied that story.

The 1983 Winter Issue of "Old West Magazine" #47304 From the Authors collection

Article by Glenn Boyer: Brother in the Shadow from the 1983 Winter Issue of "Old West Magazine" #47304 From the Authors collection

Temescal, San Bernadino Co. California July the 19th, 1880

My husband starts for Arizona in the morning. I'm going to stay here for the present with his parents. They do not want me to go, so I think I will have to stay here this summer. We 

have had ripe peaches and watermelons and green corn since the first of the month and we have not had any rain for four months, but we have very pleasant weather.

-From your sister Louisa Houston

Letter from Lousia Houston to her sister Kate

MORGAN SETH EARP

Morgan Earp was born on April 24th, 1851 in Lake Prairie Township, Marion County Iowa, of which Knoxville is the County seat. His parents were Nicholas Porter Earp and Virginia Ann Cooksey Earp.  When he was born they were living in the country on a farm. Morgans childhood was the same as his brothers, and farming was a difficult endeavor for the entire family. Though Morgan hunted, Fished and wandered the countryside.  The Earp family was very close-knit group of people, and Nicholas Earp was a very strong father figure who had severed honorably in the war with Mexico. At around the time of the civil war. The Earp family, under their farther Nicholas, decided to follow the new trails west to migrate to California, a grand expedition. Morgan was thirteen years old at the time and was accompanied by his brother Wyatt and James. After extensive preparations, in the Spring of 1864, the Earps departed Pella Iowa and headed west in a wagon train along the Oregon Trail, reaching Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, then heading south to Salt Lake City and across the Mormon Cut off, and Mojave Desert, arriving at their new home in San Bernadino California in December of 1864. One can only imagine what it must have been like for the young Earp boys. This trip must have shaped them into fine frontiersman. Lessons learned here most certainly helped them in the coming years. Nicholas Earp settled on a farm in the area of San Bernadino and lived there until 1868, when Nicholas, a man who had a wandering in his blood, pulled up stakes and returned to the east. By this time Morgans older brothers had moved on, and He and his brother Warren, were left to handle the drudgery of farm life.  After the Civil War, brother Virgil wandered the West.  He drove stages in California, worked the Union Pacific Railroad beds with Wyatt in Wyoming and ran a grocery in Lamar, Missouri, where Wyatt was constable and father Nicholas was justice of the peace. Virgil drove stages during the 1870s in Iowa, it was that there he met his third wife Allie Sullivan (first wife Ellen Rysdam remarried after being told by Ellen’s father that Virgil had died in combat in 1863, while his second wife, 17-year-old Rosella Drago, simply vanished from the records). Allie would stick by Virgil for the rest of his life. Virgil may have served briefly as a policeman with Wyatt in Wichita in 1875 and in Dodge City in 1876 and 1877. Brother James left the family and headed west to boom towns in Nevada. Nichoals Earp, Morgan and Warren made their way back east by wagon train and made it to the Union Pacific railhead in Wyoming. There they found Virgil and Wyatt working with railroad on construction crews. The reunited family then went east together to visit relatives in in Iowa and Illinois. The family eventually moved to Lamar Missouri where Nick Earp had owned farmland for many years. The Earps also left Lamar Missouri and Morgan parted ways with the family, and not much information is available about his whereabouts until 1875 when he shows up in Dodge City Kansas, where he served as a part time deputy sheriff the year before his brother Wyatt joined the Dodge City police force. Apparently, Wyatt tried to secure jobs for both Morgan and Virgil on the Wichita police force but wasn't successful. According to recollections of the family of Louisa (Houston) Earp, both her and her sister Kate (Kate Houston Robinson) went to Dodge city as Harvey (1) Girls. But she and Morgan probably did not meet there because Morgan had left Dodge city before her arrival (Brother in the Shadow: Glenn G. Boyer) but likely met her in another railroad town. (2) Record show that Morgan showed up in Butte Montana as a member of the police force on December 16th, 1879, and stayed there until early 1880. 

In December of 1879, the three elder Earp brothers, Jim, Virgil and Wyatt came to Tombstone, expecting to open a stagecoach line. They found the field full and turned to saloon keeping and gambling. They were unaware their talents with six-shooters would soon draw them into a political confrontation between the old Arizona Democrats and Republican investors who controlled Tombstone. Morgan arrived in Tombstone in late 1880, just around the time when the friction between the cow-boy factions and law enforcement, the situation which would eventually lead to his death. His brother Wyatt Earp was about to be appointed deputy-sheriff of Pima County for the Tombstone District, and brother Virgil was U.S. Deputy Marshal and had been since his arrival in Tombstone in December of 1879. These facts confirm why there was confrontations with numerous members of the outlaw gangs around Tombstone. 

"In the period from December 1879-1880 , when Morgan reached Tombstone, there was no open hostility between the Earp's and what was to become known as the Cow-Boy gang, a confederation of lawless freebooters, men who had been run out of Texas and New Mexico."

-Glenn Boyer: Brother in the Shadow, Old West Magazine Winter 1983

There is a fairly deep history here in this part of the story, and has been well researched, and written about in other publications. But it necessary to note that Morgan never received adequate credit for his role in Tombstone. But it's worth mentioning that Morgan was both a fair and active Lawman in his own right. But the simple truth is that Morgan had become embroiled innocently in the Tombstone situation, and was merely trying to support his family, just like his brother Wyatt, he guarded bullion shipments of Wells Fargo, he gambled as did all of his brothers, he moonlighted as a Lawman and sometimes worked full time as a peace officer.                                                                                              

  On the night of March 18, 1882, after returning from a play at Schieffelin Hall, Morgan decided to play a game of pool with Bob Hatch in the back of Latters saloon on Allen street. He was fatally shot in the back, and the bullet entered his spine, the shot came through a window on the back door of the saloon. A second shot followed obviously directed at Wyatt who was seated in a chair near the game. The following morning, a Coroner's inquest convened based principally upon the testimony of the wife of Pete Spence. It was decided that the killers were Frank Stillwell and Spence, abetted by two others, one of whom was known as Indian Charlie and the other a John Doe.  He was just 30 years old. Morgan’s body was then transported to California, where he is buried at Hermosa Cemetery in Colton, California

  References; 

Virgil Earp: In a Brother’s Shadow

Although he was a first-rate lawman and stood tall during that deadly gunfight near the O.K. Corral, Virgil Earp will forever be known as Wyatt’s older brother.

by Lee A. Silva3/23/2018

Morgan Earp "Brother in the Shadow" Vol III by Glenn G. Boyer

Legends of America

Morgan Earp – Killed in Tombstone, Arizona

Note 1 

Fred Harvey was a businessman, and entrepreneur recognized the need for better restaurants and accommodations along rail lines throughout the Southwest. He formed a partnership with the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway to open establishments along their routes. As part of the hotel and restaurant service staff, the Fred Harvey Company created the iconic Harvey Girls, who are often described as one of the first workforces made up of all women in the Southwest. Women made up much of the service staff that worked at the Fred Harvey Company’s establishments. Women came from all over the country to work as a Harvey Girl

Ref 

The Harvey Girls – Increasing Opportunity (U.S. National Park Service)

Note 2 

Morgan Earp "Brother in the Shadow" Vol III by Glenn G. Boyer

Brother in the Shadow Old West Magazine Winter 1983 Article by Glenn Boyer