Stories: Old West & Beyond 04.08.2025
“Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by so quick you can hardly catch it going.” —Tennessee Williams.
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Good morning, it’s Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Today’s Old West tales are about train robbers. Other stories involve danger high in the Andes, secrets in walls, wow! images from space, the history of chocolate chip cookies, and more.
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— Something I Didn’t Know —
In 1866, North Dakota native David Houston dramatically changed photography when he invented roll film for cameras, which allowed the film to be wound on rolls inside the camera.
Houston sold the rights to the patent to George Eastman for $5,000 plus monthly payments for the rest of his life from the sale of roll-film cameras.
Houston suggested “Nodak” — after North Dakota — as the name of the new camera. Eastman liked the idea but wanted a name that didn’t mean anything. He changed the first letter and called his company “Kodak.”
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1. THE OLD WEST: OUTLAWS VANISH
Masked gunmen carried out a well-executed robbery of the Southern Pacific's westbound express train. The heist took place about 17 miles from Tucson in the spring of 1887 with the “Looting the Sunset Express.”
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2. THE OLD WEST: TRAIN ROBBERS HUNTED LARGE PAYROLL SHIPMENTS
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, train robberies were frequent in the American Old West. Trains carried valuable cargo and, at the same time, large payroll shipments.
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3. ROADS WHERE YOU PRAY NEVER TO ENCOUNTER ONCOMING TRAFFIC
The scenery is stunning high in the Andes in Peru, but traveling along the narrow roadways can be death-defying. Climb into a bus driven by one man who has been navigating treacherous and narrow roadways for 50 years. (Text & Video)
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4. SECRETS BEHIND THE SHEETROCK
You never know what might be hiding behind the walls of your home. Some homeowners have found cash and even dirty underwear. Here are nine items discovered behind walls.
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5. SUNDOWN ON THE TERMINATOR. CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH MARS. BLACK ECHO
These names represent three of 31 award-winning astronomy photos from a competition for Astronomy Photographer of the Year a couple of years ago. I hope you’ll find the images as stunning and startling as I did.
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6. YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT THE DOORSTOP YOU’RE USING
An elderly Romanian woman used a reddish chunk of rock to prop open a door. It turned out the chunk was worth over $1.1 million.
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7. CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES BY THE BILLION
Chocolate chip cookies, created at New England's Toll House Restaurant, quickly rivaled apple pie as America's favorite sweet treat. Here are eight key moments in chocolate chip history.
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8. SWAP THE FROGS
Here’s a computer game that will challenge your patience and problem-solving ability when you have time. Remember: Green frogs go right. Brown frogs go left.
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“Silence is a true friend who never betrays.” —Confucius
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