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Occasionally the old-timers would even bang out a poem or two. Charles N. Easton contributed this one to the September of 1916 issue of Outers Book.

Despite Thomas’ qualified insistence that the proper function of the firearm of the West was grossly overplayed, the mainstream of Outdoor Life’s readership refused to accept the apparent heresy. Guns, after all, had been fixed in the minds of so many as being as closely associated with the true old-time Westerner as the cowboy was to the horse. Journalists, armed with their creative licenses, had seen to that. None of the readers of the outdoor magazines appeared to have an interest in hearing tales of the instruments of farming, ranching, railroading, mining or any of the truly genuine components of Western history, but they were entranced by the notion of the guns and had a special fascination with the rifles and revolvers that certainly must have seen use on the plains and in the mountains.

By about the year 1908, the real Old West was a not-too-distant memory in the hearts of the men who had lived it. Even at this late date, some gloomy die-hards rejected the thought that their West was gone, and refused to let it be relegated to the past. They embraced the futile hope that the old West hadn’t been buried just yet.