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The American Southwest

The American Southwest

Written by: Thomas Wayne Riley
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About this listen

This is a podcast of the people, places, and things of the American West. Think cowboys and Indians, bison and cactus, national parks and ghost towns, Mormons and prospectors, nukes and aliens, Tombstone, the Anasazi, Route 66, and everything in between. I’ll dive deep into historical people and events and the cultures and policies that helped shape this area of the American frontier world that’s left so many of the rest of the planet in envy of the mythic American Southwest.

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Episodes
  • The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: Defend My Memory

    The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: Defend My Memory
    Feb 17 2026
    This episode opens with an outline of Aaron Burr and his Conspiracy to form a new Empire. I then continue the adventure of Zeb as he travels from Presidio Carrizal through the interior of New Spain (Mexico), through Texas, and finally back to the US. There are many adventures and intrigue along the way. I close the episode with the fate of the main cast: the men Pike was forced to leave behind, Wilkinson, Doc Robinson, and Pike. I also talk about the adventure’s lasting impact.
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    2 hrs and 10 mins
  • The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: The Handsomest Views In New Mexico

    The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: The Handsomest Views In New Mexico
    Feb 8 2026
    This is Part Three of a Four Part Series over the Explorer and Spy Zebulon Montgomery Pike. In this episode, Pike and his men get escorted from their stockade on the Conejo River down to Santa Fe where they meet the governor. Along the way they stop at many a pueblo and town which Pike describes in detail. From Santa Fe, the group rendezvous with Robinson before heading to Old Mexico. There’s intrigue, political discussions, Apaches, and more as they travel on the Royal Road.
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    1 hr and 53 mins
  • The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: A Terrestrial Paradise

    The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: A Terrestrial Paradise
    Jan 30 2026
    In this episode, Pike and his men leave the Pawnee village and traipse through the Great Plains until they reach the Arkansas River where Lt. Wilkinson and a few other soldiers will take canoes down to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Pike will reach the Mexican (Rocky) Mountains where he will attempt to climb Pike’s Peak before finding the headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers. But as winter settles in and his men’s strength weakens, he fatefully decides to cross the Sangre de Cristos in an attempt to find the “Red River”. We know though, that he was headed for the the Rio del Norte (Rio Grande) the entire time in an effort to get captured by the Spanish and escorted through New Mexico and New Spain.
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    1 hr and 52 mins
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