WikiProject American Old West
This WikiProject covers the historical period of the American Old West (c. 1835-1900) and western-related topics.
ShortcutWP:OLDWEST, WP:WILDWEST, WP:AOW
Wikimedia CommonsCommons:Category:Wild West Wild West
Parent
project(s)		United States History
Project banner template((WikiProject American Old West))
Userbox((Template:User WikiProject AOW))

Welcome to WikiProject American Old West, a place on Wikipedia where for the most part you can put up your boots and edit without a lot of bickering and backbiting. There's lots of articles waiting to be started! This project covers any and all articles related to the historical American Old West from about 1835 to 1900. If you would like to help out with the project, please add your name to the list of participants below. If you have comments or suggestions, consider adding it to talk page.

Summary[edit]

The goal of this wikiproject is to help expand and improve the coverage the history of the American Old West on Wikipedia. These include the following:

... and many other requested articles.

The cutoff date for articles included within this WikiProject's scope is from about 1835 to 1900. If your article is about a subject that was notable after 1900, please consider adding it to Wikiproject United States.


American Old West articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 5 3 1 9
FM 11 11
GA 1 6 15 12 34
B 18 45 50 92 8 213
C 11 46 97 156 1 48 359
Start 9 40 114 420 152 735
Stub 4 11 156 64 235
List 1 5 9 12 1 28
Category 2 498 500
File 31 31
Project 6 6
Redirect 1 1 3 8 17 30
Template 11 11
Other 4 4
Assessed 41 152 304 857 579 273 2,206
Unassessed 2 2
Total 41 152 304 857 579 275 2,208
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 7,228 Ω = 4.56


Guidelines

Open tasks

Participants[edit]

Please add your name and a short description of your interest below to the end of the list.

Active participants

  1. DarthWyyrlok (talk · contribs)
  2. The Utahraptor (talk · contribs) 29 June 2010 Utah
  3. Kintetsubuffalo (talk · contribs) 29 June 2010 Colorado
  4. Wilhelmina Will (talk · contribs) - I'll start off with seeing that pages which belong in this wikiproject are labeled as part of it, and then take things from there.
  5. CosmicPenguin (talk · contribs) contribs Wyoming, Colorado, Indian Wars, Emigrant Trails, Mining, Railroads, Ghost Towns 02:36, 20 July 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  6. Montanabw (talk · contribs) horses, cowboys, ranches, native people (and why a lot of folks prefer being called "Indian"), cows, rodeos, Western US generally. Fourth generation Montanan, among other things, have an old history degree with emphasis in western history and women's history. Strongest on Northern Rockies and Great Plains, but up to speed elsewhere.
  7. intothatdarkness (talk · contribs) - General Frontier history, Frontier Army (both before and after ACW), Frontier law enforcement, cattle towns, Montana (6th generation Montanan), Wyoming, Idaho, Kansas, etc.
  8. Jburlinson (talk · contribs)
  9. Jojhutton (talk · contribs) 17:13, 5 August 2010 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  10. Rosiestep (talk · contribs) 02:30, 3 September 2010 (UTC) - California; Ghost townsReply[reply]
  11. Hutcher (talk · contribs), my father is from the Black Hills of South Dakota so I'd like to tune related articles up, 16:46, 21 February 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  12. btphelps (talk · contribs) - Events and individuals related to Cochise County in the Old West
  13. Coreyg3 (talk · contribs) (I am in a group project working on cleaning up, editing and contributing to general information on the American Old West!)
  14. Melpars (talk · contribs) (I am a student at the University of Washington hoping to research and participate in the American Old West WikiProject as a new Wikipedia participant)
  15. mwtmtmtl (talk · contribs) (I am interested in the idioms and word origins of the Old West. I am particularly interested in cow town, and cattle trail history)
  16. Rosalina523 (talk · contribs)
  17. Richlevine00 (talk · contribs) (I am interested in the Plains Wars, Native American and Lakota history) 00:54, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  18. KingJeff1970 (talk · contribs) 18:47, 2 August 2014 (UTC) I'm a trained historian of the West (and, yes, I do tricks, for the right treats) and I've been working in public history for 20 years in MT, AZ, and CO. I'm particularly interested in the historiography and bibliography of the American West, and regional history.Reply[reply]
  19. DENAMAX (talk · contribs)
  20. Bruin2 (talk · contribs) Particularly interested in Oklahoma history, including Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, which were forerunners of the present state of Oklahoma.
  21. OSMOND PHILLIPS (talk · contribs) (I am interested in the good guys and the bad guys of the Old West)
  22. Jack DeMattos (talk · contribs) Experienced professional writer of the Wild West, specifically interested in Gunfighters and Lawmen
  23. Failosopher (talk · contribs) (History of Ghost towns and gunslingers!)
  24. Mike Searson (talk · contribs) Professional author of the Old West, people and firearms
  25. PJsg1011 (talk · contribs) Armchair historian and curious explorer of historical places; interested mostly in clean-up and style edits of any articles needing them.
  26. Drown Soda (talk · contribs) Interested in Old West culture in general, outlaw biographies--specifically in Oregon and Montana
  27. BrushyBill (talk · contribs) –Interested in all things history.
  28. Kyerjay (talk · contribs) - Mostly Arizona
  29. CJK09 (talk · contribs) - mountain men, Plains Indian wars, California and Nevada gold and silver rushes, California history in general
  30. Paleface Jack (talk · contribs) - Mainly focusing on people (Mountain men, Outlaws, Lawmen, etc.)
  31. It'sOnlyMakeBelieve (talk · contribs) - this, that, and the other!
  32. Randoperson1 (talk · contribs) - A lot of Things!
  33. ElCharismo (talk · contribs) – Mountain West resident, lifelong horseman, occasional cowboy poet. Lawman lorehunter & Twain enthusiast. Boarding this locomotive to help dust-off a few of American history's forgotten volumes.
  34. Srich32977 (talk · contribs) – getting old, and leaning westwardly

Former participants

  1. OldWestHistorian (talk · contribs) 16:14, 20 July 2010 (UTC) Retired since May 2011Reply[reply]
  2. Lithistman (talk · contribs) (I am interested in working on Kansas-related articles, particularly in the area of Dodge City and its part in the Old West.) Inactive since November 2014
  3. dnforney (talk · contribs) 03:55, 21 August 2014 (UTC) I am interested in cattle ranching, gold mining, and Colorado history in particular, but also enjoy the overall history of the western United States in the 1870-1900 time period. Inactive since October 2014Reply[reply]

Articles[edit]

Featured content

N/A

Candidates


Newly created articles

Please feel free to list your new American Old West-related articles here (newer articles at the top, please). Any new articles that have an interesting or unusual fact in them, are at least over 1,500 characters, don't have any dispute templates on them, and cite their sources, should be suggested for the Did you know? box on the Wikipedia Main Page.

Articles needing attention

See Category: American Old West articles needing attention here.

Proposed new articles

See: Requested articles

Peer review requested

N/A

Article assessment and re-assessment

See: Assessment

Article alerts

A-Class review

Requested moves

Articles to be split

Good articles

Featured articles


Statistics

Project templates[edit]

Talkpage templates

((WikiProject United States)) 

((WikiProject United States
 |class= (choose one: FA, A, GA, B, Start, Stub, Dab, Template, Cat, Image, List, NA)
 |importance= (choose one: Top, High, Mid, Low, NA)
 |Oldwest=Yes
 |Oldwest-importance= (choose one: Top, High, Mid, Low, NA)
 |attention=
 |needs-infobox=
 |image-needed=
 |image-in=
 |image-in2=
 |image-in3=
 |image-details=
 |map-needed=
 |map-in=
 |map-in2=
 |map-in3=
 |map-details=
 |geocoord-needed=
 |unref=
 |listas=
 |small=
))
WikiProject iconUnited States: Old West NA‑class
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
NAThis article has been rated as NA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Taskforce icon
This article is supported by WikiProject American Old West.

Article templates

Infoboxes

Footers

Userpage templates

((User WikiProject AOW))

This user is a member of
WikiProject
American Old West.

Barnstar template

A Barnstar!
The American Old West Barnstar
Put your message here. ~~~~

((subst:American Old West Barnstar|1=Put your message here. ~~~~))

Project invite

Categories[edit]

American Old West
no subcategories
WikiProject American Old West
WikiProject American Old West participants
no subcategories
WikiProject American Old West articles
American Old West articles needing attention
Unreferenced American Old West articles
American Old West articles by importance
American Old West articles by quality
Wikipedia requested maps of the American Old West
American Old West articles with to-do lists
Wikipedia requested images of the American Old West
WikiProject American Old West templates
no subcategories

Sisterlinks

Southwest

Great Plains

Rocky Mountains

West Coast

List of U.S. State-level WikiProjects and their sub-projects

Related WikiProjects

Review and assessment[edit]

Assessment at WikiProject American Old West is conducted on two separate levels. First the article is assessed for its "class." Stub, start, B, C, GA, or FA? Class helps keep track of where we are and where we should go. The second criterion an article is assessed on is its importance to the project. A table below helps explain. First, the article subject's historical value is assessed. Mid-level importance articles have some significance, but not as much as top level articles. Top level importance articles are articles that are important to include in an encyclopedia. The lowest assessment is for little-known, interesting pieces of trivia relating to the American Old West.

Assessment instructions[edit]

An article's assessment is generated from the class parameter in the ((WikiProject American Old West)) project banner on its talk page (see the project banner instructions for more details on the exact syntax):

((WikiProject American Old West|class=??? ))

The following values may be used:

should only be used for articles that are currently listed as featured articles
should only be used for articles that are currently listed as good articles

Non-article pages can be rated, though for the list and category class it's better to use our templates because it adds them to the appropriate category in Category:WikiProject American Old West articles, which helps immensely with overall organization.

The following values may be used:

should be used on disambiguation pages related to WikiProject American Old West
should be used on image pages related to or in articles related to WikiProject American Old West
should be used on redirect pages related to articles in WikiProject American Old West
should be used on WikiProject American Old West template pages, such as an infobox or navigation box.

Articles for which a valid class is not provided are listed in Category:Unassessed American Old West articles. The class should be assigned according to the quality scale below.

Quality scale

WikiProject article quality grading scheme
Class Criteria Reader's experience Editing suggestions Example
 FA The article has attained featured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured article candidates.
More detailed criteria
The article meets the featured article criteria:

A featured article exemplifies Wikipedia's very best work and is distinguished by professional standards of writing, presentation, and sourcing. In addition to meeting the policies regarding content for all Wikipedia articles, it has the following attributes.

  1. It is:
    1. well-written: its prose is engaging and of a professional standard;
    2. comprehensive: it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context;
    3. well-researched: it is a thorough and representative survey of the relevant literature; claims are verifiable against high-quality reliable sources and are supported by inline citations where appropriate;
    4. neutral: it presents views fairly and without bias;
    5. stable: it is not subject to ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured article process; and
    6. compliant with Wikipedia's copyright policy and free of plagiarism or too-close paraphrasing.
  2. It follows the style guidelines, including the provision of:
    1. a lead: a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections;
    2. appropriate structure: a substantial but not overwhelming system of hierarchical section headings; and
    3. consistent citations: where required by criterion 1c, consistently formatted inline citations using footnotes—see citing sources for suggestions on formatting references. Citation templates are not required.
  3. Media. It has images and other media, where appropriate, with succinct captions and acceptable copyright status. Images follow the image use policy. Non-free images or media must satisfy the criteria for inclusion of non-free content and be labeled accordingly.
  4. Length. It stays focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail and uses summary style where appropriate.
 Professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information. No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.[under discussion] Cleopatra
(as of June 2018)
 FL The article has attained featured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured list candidates.
More detailed criteria
The article meets the featured list criteria:
  1. Prose. It features professional standards of writing.
  2. Lead. It has an engaging lead that introduces the subject and defines the scope and inclusion criteria.
  3. Comprehensiveness.
  4. Structure. It is easy to navigate and includes, where helpful, section headings and table sort facilities.
  5. Style. It complies with the Manual of Style and its supplementary pages.
  6. Stability. It is not the subject of ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured list process.
 Professional standard; it comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about those items. No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available. List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events
(as of May 2018)
 A The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been examined by impartial reviewers from a WikiProject or elsewhere. Good article status is not a requirement for A-Class.
More detailed criteria
The article meets the A-Class criteria:
Provides a well-written, clear and complete description of the topic, as described in Wikipedia:Article development. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, appropriately structured, and be well referenced by a broad array of reliable sources. It should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. Only minor style issues and other details need to be addressed before submission as a featured article candidate. See the A-Class assessment departments of some of the larger WikiProjects (e.g. WikiProject Military history).
 Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject would typically find nothing wanting. Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style problems may need solving. WP:Peer review may help. Battle of Nam River
(as of June 2014)
 GA The article meets all of the good article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers from WP:Good article nominations.
More detailed criteria
A good article is:
  1. Well-written:
    1. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and
    2. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.
  2. Verifiable with no original research:
    1. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline;
    2. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose);
    3. it contains no original research; and
    4. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism.
  3. Broad in its coverage:
    1. it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and
    2. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).
  4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.
  5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.
  6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
    1. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and
    2. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.
 Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication. Some editing by subject and style experts is helpful; comparison with an existing featured article on a similar topic may highlight areas where content is weak or missing. Discovery of the neutron
(as of April 2019)
B The article meets all of the B-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards.
More detailed criteria
  1. The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. Any format of inline citation is acceptable: the use of <ref> tags and citation templates such as ((cite web)) is optional.
  2. The article reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. It contains a large proportion of the material necessary for an A-Class article, although some sections may need expansion, and some less important topics may be missing.
  3. The article has a defined structure. Content should be organized into groups of related material, including a lead section and all the sections that can reasonably be included in an article of its kind.
  4. The article is reasonably well-written. The prose contains no major grammatical errors and flows sensibly, but it does not need to be "brilliant". The Manual of Style does not need to be followed rigorously.
  5. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams, an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content.
  6. The article presents its content in an appropriately understandable way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. The article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.
 Readers are not left wanting, although the content may not be complete enough to satisfy a serious student or researcher. A few aspects of content and style need to be addressed. Expert knowledge may be needed. The inclusion of supporting materials should be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines. Psychology
(as of January 2024)
C The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup.
More detailed criteria
The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow.
 Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study. Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems. Wing
(as of June 2018)
Start An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources.
More detailed criteria
The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following:
  • A useful picture or graphic
  • Multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic
  • A subheading that fully treats an element of the topic
  • Multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article
 Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more. Providing references to reliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Also improve the grammar, spelling, writing style and improve the jargon use. Ball
(as of September 2014)
Stub A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria. Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant. Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant. Lineage (anthropology)
(as of December 2014)
List Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list or set index article, which is an article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area. There is no set format for a list, but its organization should be logical and useful to the reader. Lists should be lists of live links to Wikipedia articles, appropriately named and organized. List of literary movements

Importance assessment

An article's assessment is generated from the importance parameter in the ((WikiProject American Old West)) project banner on its talk page (see the project banner instructions for more details on the exact syntax):

((WikiProject American Old West|class=???|importance=??? ))

The following values may be used:

should only be used for top-importance articles.
should only be used for high-importance articles.
should only be used for mid-importance articles.
should only be used for low-importance articles.

Importance scale

Articles for which a valid importance is not provided are listed in Category:Unknown-importance American Old West articles. The importance should be assigned according to the importance scale below.

Top Subject is a must-have for a print encyclopaedia Famous historical figure or event from the American Old West.
High Subject contributes a depth of knowledge Well-known historical figure or event from the American Old West.
Mid Subject fills in more minor details Significant historical figure or event from the American Old West.
Low Subject is mainly of specialist interest Not well-known; an interesting piece of trivia relating to the American Old West.
NA Non-Article Project pages
Categories