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LINKS

We wish to swap links with those that relate to this site

The links are in alphabetical order



Soapy Smith Descendants
websites from family members


Columbus Darwin Smith
Site includes section on U. S. S. Wake Commander Columbus Darwin Smith, whom was captured in 1941 just hours after the Japanese December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Columbus escaped his captors in 1944 and traveled some 700 miles to safety.

Jefferson R. Smith III
(Soapy's son) Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa created a nice website on famous American artist Grant Wood and his 1933-34 Stone City Art Colony, Iowa. This is where Soapy's son Jefferson R. Smith lll, and his 2nd wife artist Florence Sprague., met. This site has a biography on Jefferson. Jeff Smith (Soapy's great-grandson) was key in helping this site with information.

Luther Martin Smith
(Soapy's uncle) This site covers the history of Luther's position as Emory University President, 1867-71.

Randy Smith
(Great-grandson) This site is devoted to Randy's love of Harley Motorcycles and his custom parts work.
 
Randy Smith
(Great-grandson) This site is devoted to Randy's company that he founded, Custom Cycle Engineering.

Florence (Smith) Sprague
Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa created a nice website on famous American artist Grant Wood and his 1933-34 Stone City Art Colony, Iowa. This is where Soapy's son Jefferson R. Smith lll, and his 2nd wife Florence Sprague, a well known artist, met. This site has a biography on Florence. Jeff Smith (Soapy's great-grandson) was key in helping this site with information.

Soapy Smith's Virtual Gravesite
Leave a thoughful message, and even a flower or cigar, at the Soapy Smith virtual gravesite (Find A Grave). You can also vote on how popular Soapy is, and we ask that you please do so. The Smith family asks you to take a little time and leave your thoughts, whether pro Soapy, or not. 




Confidence Men, Gamblers & Crime
(the history, products and entertainment)


Old West Rogues
A forum for the historical discussion of the outlaws, bunco artists, thieves, misfits, political and social gangsters, and all around bad men, women and places that made up the best and worst the west had to offer. This board is in association with the Friends of bad man Soapy Smith.

Chef Anton
United States Trick Shot Billiards Champion. Co-founder of The School For Scoundrels. Mr.Anton shoots one trick game of pool.

Blacksheep Ancestors
Search for your Blacksheep Ancestors in Free Genealogical Prison and Convict Records, HistoricalCourt Records, Executions, Insane Asylum Records and Biographies of Famous Outlaws, Criminals & Pirates in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

The Blonger Brothers
Sam and Lou Blonger were the rivals and successors of "Soapy's" empire in Denver. This is a wonderful "tell all" website that is beautifully detailed and a well written.history of one of the longest underworld reigns in criminal history. 
Operated by Scott and Craig Johnson, the g-g-great grand nephews. A must see.

Clews: The Historic True Crime Blog
Clews: The Historic True Crime Blog. Clews is a weblog devoted to the discovery and dissemination of the fascinating stories to be found where murder, history, and journalism overlap. It is written by Laura James, former news reporter turned trial lawyer and devotee of forgotten true crime stories and the fascinating people who wrote them.

Days of '98 Show (with Soapy Smith)
The longest running show in the North! Starting in 1925. Owner Jim Richards is a good friend of the Smith family and was instrumental in starting the very first Soapy Smith Wake. If you go to Skagway you CANNOT miss this show.

Encyclopedia of Scams
"Find your favorite scams, swindles and bar bets at the Encyclopedia of Scams. Written by Nicholas J. Johnson, Australia's Honest Con man, the Encyclopedia teaches rubes the  difference between the pigeon drop and a cackle bladder and much more."

The faro king
This is a great source for faro and other old west gambling supplies. Featuring quality reproduction old west playing card decks, clay composition chips and faro dealing boxes. Check them out whether you play at home or plan to set up a stake at an up coming annual match or civil war/old west reenactment.

Frontier Gambler
Bob Wood's site dedicated to those men and women that made their living by the turn of a card. The site includes a lot of history on the gamblers, including Soapy Smith, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Lottie Deno and Poker Alice. History of the games include faro, keno, hazard, chuck-a-luck, craps and roulette.

Gambling Collectibles.com
This fun site contains crooked gambling equipment, especially dice, used by hustlers and scoundrels to fleece the unwary. Steve, owner of the firm says, "The number of ways dice were rigged is quite interesting." We agree.

Whit "Pop" Haydn

Award winning, master sleight-of hand magician. Co-founder of the School For Scoundrels. Producer of the Soapy Smith Wake, held at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, Ca. If you want to see how the bunco men worked their games, then Mr. Haydn is a must see. He can be found performing at the Magic Castle. Please check their site for dates. Whit Haydn is a huge fan of Soapy's and a good friend of the Smith family, and this site. He holds a place of honor here.

Knights of the Greencloth
A 19th century reenactment organization preserving the legend and spirit of the professional frontier gambler, their name was taken from the book of the same title. Very nice and informative site, that includes links to information on several old west saloon gambling games that are no longer played, but were once very popular; including faro, brag, monte, chuck-a-luck and hazard.

The Magic Castle
Magic Central. A very plush, members and their guests only club where magicians get together and perform. They host the annual "Soapy" Smith wake in California. Confidence games games and magic are related.

Pharobank.com
A website owned by friend Phil Gessert. Phil manufacturers and sells reproduction and original faro (pharo) equipment. He also hires out for those needing a casino affair. The site is an interesting look into the history and the characters involved with the old west game. There are some great photographs of various events Phil has worked at, including the July 8, 2006 Soapy Smith night at the Magic Castle.

The School for Scoundrels
THE store and school for the entertaining con man. They have fantastic products and DVD's on the shell game, three-card Monte, Billiard know-how and a host of other games played by the hustler. There is a great history section on the bunco men of the past. The school is taught at the world famous Magic Castle.

School for Scoundrels Forums
Now here is a fantastic forum with numerous threads relating to gambling and the bunco man. It is the brain-child of Whit Haydn of the School for Scoundrels. Perhaps the most educational forum on bunco activities in the world! Visitors can view threads on topics of old west con man history, pool hustling, laws, and Soapy Smith. Visitors with an interest can join the section entitled SOAPY'S GANG that contains four topic threads. A must see!

Wichita Faro
This site holds the most authentically detailed and entertaining version of the old west gambling game of Faro in the world. This award winning site takes place in a virtual saloon setting complete with crowd and gambling noises. Even saloon music is supplied by a piano. Faro was Soapy Smith's favorite gambling game. He once slashed a faro layout with his knife at the Arcade gaming clubs in Denver, Colorado.  




Colorado, History


Colorado Historical Society
Home to the historical society.

Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection
Colorado newspaper collection from 1859 to 1923. A joint endeavor of the Colorado State Library, the Colorado Historical Society and the Collaborative Digitization Program.

Colorado Lore, Legend and fact

A host to many other sites relating to Colorado history.

Creede Hotel (Zang's)
A five room hotel in Creede, Colorado built in 1892. It is reported that Soapy Smith stayed there, as well as Robert Ford and others.

Photoswest
A huge site of many thousnads of digitized photographs from the Denver Public Libraries collection, covering the entire American west, but centering on Denver and Colorado history. 

Rocky Mountain Profiles

Wonderful site and photographs of Colorado's historical town's, camps and ghost towns, including Creede and Leadville where Soapy was. In the section on Creede there are photos of the Creede Hotel where it is reported that Soapy stayed. It seems reasonable as it is very close to the spot where his saloon, the Orleans Club stood. While in Skagway, Alaska, Soapy lived at the Mondimen hotel, which was next door to his saloon, Jeff Smith's Parlor.

 


Alaska, History



Alaska's Gold
A large, very fascinating, and educational site on Alaska's role in the Klondike gold rush, from the Alaska state library.

The Arctic Website
Photos and stories on "Soapy" wakes up at Skagway, Alaska.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
The Federal Park Service site for the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. This site covers both Seattle and Skagway's involvement in the gold rush. Very educational, with interesting history pages. It has a great the story of uncovering the history of Skagway. Be sure to take the Skagway tour.


Music of the Alaska - Klondike Gold Rush
Jean A. Murray produced a wonderful book and separate CD/tape of the above title. A
collection of 24 very authentic late 1890s Klondike gold rush songs. The songs come from Jean's book that contains the music and lyrics for 94 popular songs. The CD was recorded in 1998 using vocals and chorus, along with piano, harmonica, fiddle, guitar and a mandolin. 

The Skagway News Depot
A fantastic newspaper owned and operated by friend of the Smith family, Jeff Brady. Jeff is very knowledgeable on the history of Skagway. His depot is filled with books relating to Alaska and Skagway. There are several books on "Soapy" that you can purchase in the store and on-line. In the Summer Jeff prints up a supplemental edition, calling it The Skaguay News, which is filled with great history of the town. 

 



Old West, History, Products and Entertainment



Circle KB Inc.
Cowboy Gear, Western Collectibles, Civil War. Everything for the old west reenactor. They have a reproduction Alaska Territory U.S. marshal badge worn by James Rowan when he was killed by John Fey at Skagway, Alaska. Soapy saved John Fey's life by stopping the vigilate's from hanging him.

Front Range Land Investments (Sanborn Insurance Maps)
Sanborn fire insurance maps are detailed city plans, usually at scales of 50 or 100 feet to an inch. They show individual building "footprints," complete with construction details, such as building material (brick, adobe, frame, etc.), height (of larger buildings), number of stories, location of doors, windows, chimneys and elevators, use of structure (dwelling, outhouse, hotel, church, etc.), street address, and occasionally the ethnicity of the occupants. Other features shown include lot lines, street widths, water pipes, hydrants and cisterns, and fire-fighting facilities.

Gunfighter Zone

"Helping you relive the excitement of the Wild West." A great forum discussion board with numerous threads relating to the old west and reenacting.

Newnan-Coweta Historical Society
Dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the cultural, historical and architecural heritage of Coweta County. This is the birth place of Soapy Smith.

Old West History.Net
A vast cornucopia of historical information regarding the old west. There is a large amount devoted to the city of Tombstone, Arizona of the 19th century. A must see.

The Rest of the West
Dr. Tim Lopp runs this discussion board on the old west catering to the facts of just about anything regarding the nineteenth century. If you wish to learn something new about the old west every single day then go no further.
 

Saloon Piano.com
Dave Bourne, a musician and reenactor, plays the best 19th century piano that I have ever heard! I have SALOON PIANO, CD volumes l, ll and lll. For old west piano there is no where else to go, but to Dave Bourne. You can find these CD's and his others on his website. He also performs live at the annual "Soapy" Smith wake held each July 8, at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California.

Texas Jack Vermillion
Bob Wood developed this site to honor John Wilson "Texas Jack" Vermillion, a noted gunman who joined the Soapy Smith gang around 1888. At that time he was known as "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out" Vermillion.

TombstoneArizona.com
Home of the infamous Terry Ike Clanton, a descendant of Tombstone's Ike Clanton gang of gunfight behind the OK Corral fame. A great site that explains the cowboys view of the feud with the Earp clan. Some of the combatants later joined up with the Soapy Smith gang. Terry hosts The Haunted Saloon, a "live" video webcast every Tuesday night, 10 pm eastern and 7 pm pacific.

True West Magazine
Breathing new life into the old west, is a bold, at times controversial, voice of American western history, blending old west facts with new west lifestyles;  published since 1953.

Vintage Kin History.Com
A genealogical design studio dedicated to providing quality free graphics and assorted links. "We value the preservation of family history and offer a selection of free graphics for your genealogy and family orientated web projects."

White Horse Ranch
A fun corporation owned, fledging old west town where several cowboy reenactment organizations meet, camp out, shoot, and socialize. There are several annual events.

W.W.H.A.
The Wild West History Association. The proud parents are the National Association for Outlaw and Lawmen History (NOLA), formed in 1974, and the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association (WOLA), founded in 1990. These two history groups, with a worldwide membership, have joined in the formation of the Wild West History Association (WWHA). This merger creates the primary Wild West history organization in the world whose aim is to discover, share, and promote the true stories of outlaws and lawmen in the frontier west.

A Soapy Smith short bio. can be seen on their website HERE.


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