Mike Cox's Texas Magazine

Remembering T. Lindsay Baker

Mike Cox — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:38:05 GMT

When the email from the West Texas Historical Society popped up in my inbox at 3:21 p.m. Friday, the subject line said only, “T. Lindsay Baker.”

Email like this seldom brings good news. “Maybe he’s getting some kind of honor or has another book out,” I hoped.

But I knew it wouldn’t be that.

Dr. Baker—the 79-year-old author of 21 solid Texas books focusing…

New Texas Magazine Bonus Feature: "The Occasional Letter"

Mike Cox — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:28:28 GMT

Dear Subscribers:

Remember letters?

You wrote ‘em by hand or typed them, usually folded them in thirds, placed your missive into a No. 10 envelope, addressed it, sealed it, and affixed a postage stamp you had to lick. Then you dropped it in a mailbox and waited for an answer you hoped would come in a few days or weeks.

Over the years, I’ve written several …

A Scammer Who Didn’t Need Artificial Intelligence…Just Goat Testicles

Mike Cox — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 01:35:54 GMT

It’s hard to conceive of a better subject for a movie than Dr. John R. Brinkley, a Depression-era grifter with phony medical degrees who made a fortune in the pre-Viagra era transplanting goat glands into men desperate to perk up their love lives.

After most of his potential customers got wise to his goat testicle scam (some died from infections before t…

Remember TV's "What's My Line?" in the '50's?

Mike Cox — Sat, 23 May 2026 00:51:40 GMT

Most Baby Boomers likely recall the 1950s black-and-white TV game show “What’s My Line?”

In it, a blindfolded celebrity panel tried to guess what each week’s mystery guest did for a living by asking them questions. Had the show survived until the 1980s, I bet I could have stumped the stars.

That’s because, for 15 years, I had a particularly unusual—and g…

Route 66 + 1: The Story of U.S. 67

Mike Cox — Wed, 13 May 2026 14:22:06 GMT

People still get their kicks on old Route 66, but Route 66 plus one—U.S. 67—still’s stomping as a multi-state transportation coridor.

It may not be the Mother Road, which as of 2026 is a century old, but U.S. 67 stretches 1,560 miles across five states, connecting Iowa to Mexico. (By comparison, Route 66 is 2,448 miles long.)

U.S. 67 extends through Texas…

The Lamesa Incident

Mike Cox — Mon, 04 May 2026 21:25:10 GMT

Future Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry wrote an essay back in the 1960s about a trip he took across Texas.

Related in his book In a Narrow Grave, his experiences may or may not have been true, but one of his sentences stands the test of time:

“Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak.”

Recently, my …

J. Frank Dobie and Henry David Thoreau

Mike Cox — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:23:27 GMT

New England transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau went to jail in the summer of 1846 for refusing to pay a $1.50 poll tax. Ninety years later, in a part of the United States Thoreau knew about but never saw, …

A Bank Job, a Double Murder, an Old Cavalry Post and a Museum

Mike Cox — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:32:35 GMT

At 10:30 a.m. on Sunday Dec. 26, 1948, a janitor let himself in the Amarillo American National Bank at 407 Polk St. to clean the lobby and offices ahead of the coming work week. He soon discovered that in a manner of speaking the financial institution had already been “cleaned.”

Sam Houston's Zen Practice

Mike Cox — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:52:33 GMT

Well-read as he was, Sam Houston would not have understood the 21^st meaning of words like “meditation” or phrases such as “being in the present moment.”

But just as surely as Siddhartha Buddha sat with his legs crossed under the Bodhi Tree for seven days straight in ancient India awaiting enlightenment, the man who served as the first president of the Re…

Digging Holes

Mike Cox — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:29:52 GMT

The simple-seeming undertaking of digging a hole is a relatively deep subject.

Reflecting on the practice of excavation, I’ve come to understand that there’s a “whole” truth to be learned about digging that applies to everything from burying pets who’ve gone over the rainbow to yard work to the search for hidden treasure.

"Man Killers at Close Range"

Mike Cox — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 23:11:49 GMT

Man Killers At Close Range By Charles Michelson

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This illustrated article was published in Munsey's Magazine's November 1901 edition. Author Charles Michelson (1869-1948) was a Nevada-born journalist, editor and "political publicist," who played an important role in strengthening the Democratic party in the 1930s. He wrote several articles about the Old West and a memoir published in 1944, Ghost Talks.

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Recalling a Close Shave

Mike Cox — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:00:23 GMT

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Longtime Austin barber Sidney C. Frost got his start in this Congress Avenue shop. At future locations, he kept cutting hair well past the time that spittoons came to be considered antiques, not barbershop essentials. (Mike Cox Collection)

The hot foam he daubed on the back of my neck felt great, but when the old man picked up that glistening straight-e…

Mr. Tom Turkey, the Honorable Gentleman from Texas, Goes to Washington

Mike Cox — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 22:36:47 GMT

If turkeys could ruminate philosophically, they wouldn’t have much to be thankful for this time of the year—assuming they’re still gobbling on Thanksgiving.

Thankfully for them,

neither the brown-and bronze-fea…

A libel on Texas!

Mike Cox — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:28:23 GMT

As any true Texian knows, chili is good any time of the year. But it is especially good on those rare fall days when it’s actually cool and maybe even cold. The recipe on this vintage postcard, published by an old-time Amarillo postcard company no longer in business, is decent enough until you get to the end and see what the gag writer suggests. Though …

Chaos In [the] Oil Field

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:05:21 GMT

Paging Amelia Earhart…

Mike Cox — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 21:46:50 GMT

The phone booth at the Karnes County Smoke House (long since closed) matched the color scheme of the roadside South Texas eatery.

Like most Baby Boomers, I became aware of phone booths long before I ever heard the clink of a falling dime followed by a dial tone.

That’s because I devotedly watched the black-and-white Superman television series in the earl…

An Unintended Consequence on the Frontier

Mike Cox — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:16:39 GMT

Mural in San Angelo depicting figures of the Fort Concho era.

It’s a matter of logic first articulated in the 17^th century: Any given undertaking—big or small—is capable of leading to something totally unexpec…

The History of Every Old West Ghost Town

Mike Cox — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:41:13 GMT

Remnants of the old silver mining town of Shafter in the Big Bend.

All over Texas and the West once flourished towns that lived fast and died young. We call them ghost towns.

Many books have been written about…

Postcard from Texas

Mike Cox — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 22:26:04 GMT

A battery powered radio is one thing, but how did this West Texas cowpoke take selfies without a cell phone? Worse, how did he check Instagram? (Mike Cox Collection)

Postcard from Texas

Mike Cox — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:51:03 GMT

Starting today, all Texas Magazine subscribers will be getting

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a weekly postcard from Texas. From Mike Cox’s postcard collection, this is a view of Galveston from the 1930s or early 1940s. None of these structures remain today, but the text beneath “Greetings From GALVESTON, TEXAS” remains enduringly funny:

We Came down for a Cha…