In late 2024 I read an article saying that a good way to alleviate the stress and anxiety of our current world is to return to a hobby from your childhood. I started collecting some of my favorite childhood toys, the Best of the West / Johnny West action figures that were so popular in the 60s and 70s.
I may have overdone it.
All the buildings in my little town are made from cardboard, as is the stagecoach (except the axle and wheels). Most of he figures are a combination of the classic Johnny West line and the knights and vikings line, both produced by Marx in the 1960s and 1970s:
Many are kitbashes using Marx bodies and 3-D printed celebrity heads found on ebay... with some help from GI JOE, Barbie, and other lines you might recognize.
I added backstories for the main characters that include at least semi-plausible explanations for some of Marx's annoying historical inaccuracies. For example, how could Geronimo, Custer, Pat Garrett, and several Plains tribe people be in the same storyline? Most distracting to me is the fact that the Marx figure "Chief Cherokee" is clearly from a Plains tribe, not Cherokee.
Some of the buildings are still in progress, and some roofs don't have shingles yet -I will update pictures as additions are made. I've been working on it since April 2025, and expect (due to my self-imposed limited monthly budget) for it to take another year, maybe two.
Now, on with the show.
FRONTERA, TEXAS
Located about ten miles north of El Paso, in El Paso County, near the New Mexico border... between the Rio Grande and the Cristo Rey mountains.
(note: so far everything I've said is factual. The real Frontera had become a ghost town by the time of the Civil War, due to the repeated raids on it by Comanches. It was re-imagined as a modern town in the 1996 movie LONE STAR.)
Frontera was located at the borders of West Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. It was also in the region where Apaches and Comanches overlapped, leading to frequent contact and tension between the people of Frontera and both tribes.
The Apache band was led by Geronimo (on the right), a famous leader who had spent much of his life fighting both Mexican and American armies. In his youth he had been a lieutenant of the esteemed Chiricahua Apaches, Cochise.
The leader of the Comanche band was less well-known. Like Geronimo, his band had refused to be confined to a reservation after the defeat of the Comanches under Quanah Parker. The band was led by an older man whom the settlers called Chief Cherokee (on the left).
There are a couple of different theories for his unusual name (since he was Comanche). In one version, he was a Cherokee who had been captured as a child during a Comanche raid on the early Cherokee settlers in Oklahoma. In another, he led such raids himself, killing many Cherokees -and his actual name was Cherokee Killer, but it was shortened by the settlers. It is possible both stories are true.
Mountain Man Zeke McCallister (born in 1810) had been one of the fur traders who frequented Frontera when the first trading post opened in 1848. In our story it is now 1875, and Zeke (now 65) still traps in the Cristo Rey mountains and periodically brings his furs in to sell at Frontera.
Zeke's little pack pony Pancho is loaded down with traps and furs.
(note: I've had Pancho since 1976).
As Zeke rides into town, he can't help but notice how much Frontera has changed since the early days.
Zeke winds up following behind the stagecoach. From behind he cannot see who is driving, though he knows it is the Overland Mail Service stage (because if it were the Wells Fargo it would be red), and he knows that Gordon Knight drives for that line.
What he cannot see from his vantage point is that Gordon does not have his usual man riding shotgun (Jabez Walker). Instead, the shotgun rider is Zeke's old friend Pat Garrett.
Patrick Michael Garrett was born in Alabama but his family had moved to Texas when he was 10 (in 1830). As a teenager he fought under Sam Houston in the War for Texas Independence, and later became a Texas Ranger. He was a Ranger when he met Zeke -when Frontera was formed in 1848. He later spent 25 years as Sheriff of El Paso County. Since 1873 he has been a Deputy United States Marshall. He is riding shotgun because notorious outlaw Sam Cobra and his gang have been spotted around Frontera, making the bank nervous about their incoming gold shipment.
For two years now, his son has served as the county sheriff. Now 30 years old, Patrick Michael Garrett, Jr. -he goes by Mike -is making a name as a topnotch lawman in his own right. Pat Sr. also has a 25-year-old nephew who was named after him -Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett -who is currently hunting buffalo in West Texas. That young Pat Garrett will soon also follow the family tradition of being a lawman, in 1880 becoming a Deputy U.S. Marshal and the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, where he will pursue Billy the Kid.
Pat Sr. also has two daughters: the eldest is named Jane and the younger is named Josephine. Josephine goes by Delilah, and runs the local saloon and gambling house, while Jane is married to her father's former deputy, a local rancher with a reputation as a cool head and a fast gun.
Jane's husband is named Johnny West.
Johnny West was born in Texas three months after his Tennessee-born father, Jason "Jay" West, was killed at the Alamo. His older brother Jimmy was two years old at the time. The widowed Ellen West and her two little boys were taken in by the family of her husband's brother Jacob West. Ellen died of fever when Johnny was four. The boys grew up on the Jacob West ranch, the Circle X.
When Johnny was in his early 20s, the Circle X was attacked by marauders, who killed Johnny's aunt and uncle then shot Johnny and left him for dead (Jimmy, always less responsible and more of a free spirit, had already moved away to wander in the West). Johnny was found by Sheriff Garrett, who took the young man into his own home until he recovered. Garrett's daughter Jane nursed Johnny back to health, and they soon fell in love and married. (note: I made that story up when I was eight.)
After helping the sheriff catch the killers, Johnny took over the Circle X and served for years as a part-time deputy. Years later Jimmy returned -Johnny offered him a partnership but Jimmy declined, preferring to work for wages as foreman and live in the bunkhouse (and be free to leave whenever he took a notion).
By 1875, Johnny and Jane have a passel of young'uns. Left to right: Janice, Jay, Josie, and Jamie.
borrowed photo
After unloading his furs, Zeke heads to the sheriff's office to visit with Sheriff Mike Garrett, whom he has known since Mike was a toddler. The two sit down to a friendly game of checkers.
SHERIFF'S OFFICE:
Mom and Dad
Cleanliness is next to godliness
Earlier that day, outside town, Mike had seen Sam Cobra- who was wanted for murder -and arrested him.
Sam Stewart, alias Sam Cobra, is a gunfighter and outlaw originally from Missouri. According to some, during the war he rode with Quantrill and the James boys. Despite his dapper appearance, he is a ruthless killer. He robs banks -both at gunpoint and by cracking safes after hours -and is a gifted gambler (or a gifted cheater).
It is not his first time in a jail. Not even in this one.
However, by the end of the day, Mike received a telegram that he had to release his prisoner as all the witnesses against him had recanted, probably due to their loved ones being threatened.
The same telegram informed Mike that some of Cobra's closest associates, who had been sighted in the area, were headed to Frontera.
Cooper was the only of the three with warrants on him, so when he showed up Mike arrested him at once.
Meanwhile, Wichita Joe and Sam Cobra were seen hanging out at Delilah's Saloon, no doubt waiting for Black Jack Wednesday to arrive before making their move on the bank.
Pat was amused by the drunken singing of the Australian-born cowboy, Hugh Jackman, bathing in the next room.
Once he heard that the outlaws were already trickling into town, Pat arranged to go undercover the next morning at the bank, with the approval of the (very sketchy himself) bank president, John Ross Ewing.
Pat had to admit he was distracted when Rosa Jiminez came in to talk with Ewing about a business loan. Widowed like Pat, Rosa owned and operated Rosa's Cantina at the end of the street, on the edge of town. She was the classiest lady he had ever met.
By the end of the day, Gus Crowell had resumed his regular spot as teller.
Now let's take a look at some of the other businesses on Main Street, starting with the blacksmith's shop, run by Cephas Barnes:
Next stop on our tour: the Hawthorne Brothers Mortuary. The (English) brothers are, l. to r.: Peter Cushing Hawthorne, Christopher Lee Hawthorne, and Vincent Price Hawthorne.
The brothers, freshly immigrated from England, had come to Frontera shortly after its founding as apprentices to their now dearly departed father, Boris Karloff Hawthorne.
Livery stable is currently in progress:
Also in progress: newspaper office. The printing press is made of cardboard, and actually presses.
Coming soon(ish): lawyer's office, doctor's office, and Rosa's Cantina.
Doctor's office, currently unfurnished:
Shortly after noon the day after his arrival, Zeke goes to Delilah's Saloon.
He is there to await the arrival of his fur trapper colleagues, Odin North and Bill Buck.
It's a little slow at this time of day, but business will pick up soon.
Also on hand -whenever possible -a guy known as Duke.
Another regular- Dr. Jack Samuels
However... he keeps a little surprise behind the bar for troublemakers.
Mark Hazzard is the piano player. Some say he is a man with a secret.
After dark, when things get busy, Mark has a guitarist for accompaniment. We think this boy is going places.
By mid-afternoon a long-haired celebrity shows up:
Lt. Colonel (formerly General) George Armstrong Custer, whose 7th Cavalry -along with the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers -has been temporarily reassigned from Indian Territory in Oklahoma to the nearby Fort Bliss, Texas, due to increased Apache and Comanche activity. Just a few months from now Custer's 7th will be reassigned again, to Dakota Territory, where he will have a very bad day. But that is still the future.
Custer is soon joined by Captain Tom Maddox, an officer with the 10th (the Buffalo Soldier troopers were black, but the officers were white).
Maddox is accompanied by First Sergeant Roland Freeman.
Soon Jimmy West wanders in... things are getting busier as dusk approaches.
This guy shows up too, passing out business cards for some reason.
Finally, Zeke McCallister's friend Odin North shows up, and they settle in to await the arrival of the final part of their trio, Bill Buck.
Meanwhile, next door in the pool room...
The house blackjack dealer, a dapper-yet-rough Scotsman, waits for a customer.
A couple of even rougher looking fellows are playing pool... El Lobo and El Diablo, a pair of notorious and feared bounty hunters who operate along the border. No one believes they are here to just pass the time.
After a while, a third man arrives and joins in the game... notorious outlaw and gunfighter Billy Vine. Astute observers would realize he is their intended prey, as he is wanted in several states... it is also a fair conclusion that he is another gunman here to meet with Sam Cobra.
The stage is slowly being set.
Meanwhile, Sam Cobra and Wichita Joe have moved their card game to the game room.
The gentleman's name is Tom Goode. He is Canadian, and in his youth served as a Mountie. He spent most of his adult life in the American West, though, working as a sheriff in various wild cow towns. He lost his badge after being charged with corruption and turned to the life of a professional gambler. What no one knows except the Garretts, however, is that his disgrace was a ruse... he had actually become an undercover detective for Wells Fargo, and is in Frontera to help the Garretts catch the Cobra gang.
In the background, Shay has his first customers of the night... an idealistic farmboy named Luke S. Walker and a roguish, cynical drifter named Han who has befriended him.
It has been said that Delilah's is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Outside, Gordon Knight is making another run, this time with Jabez Walker back riding shotgun.
View inside the coach while waiting at the depot for Jabez to climb aboard:
Meanwhile, back at Delilah's... what goes on behind that white door in the pool room?
Well.... no one really talk about it... are you sure you want to know?
Last chance to back out...
This evening in the back room, one of Delilah's girls is helping a cavalry trooper on leave to... relax.
The picture on her wall:
Stay tuned... more to come!
