Old West

Custer's Last Stand. We all know that story. But did you know Custer once accidentally shot his own horse? That he faced court martial for shirking his patrol duty? Commentator Rex Buchanan reviews a new book about George Armstrong Custer's time in Kansas. It's called Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America.

You may be "hopping" mad at the oak tree itch mites that have invaded Kansas this summer, but 140 years ago, there was another insect that was a far greater nuisance in the Old West: the grasshopper. Commentator John Richard Schrock tells us how trillions of grasshoppers once darkened the skies over Kansas, blocked out the sun and ate nearly everything in their path.

The western-themed program "Gunsmoke" started out as a CBS Radio drama and then became a hit TV series. The show, set in Dodge City, aired from 1955 to 1975 but continues to air on TV in reruns.