In this series that provides an inside look at the inventions, advancements, concepts, and contraptions of America's Wild West past, host Keith Carradine highlights a special breed of man--the gunslinger--and his weapons of choice. Sometimes he wore a badge, sometimes he fought the law. But he always had a gun at his side--and the willingness to pull the trigger. Wild Bill Hickok, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp--we go behind the legends to see how these men were defined by the weapons they carried.

Ride on a luxurious riverboat to the rough-and-tumble mining and cattle towns where prospectors and cowboys earned and lost fortunes as we explore Wild West games, techniques, and cheating devices. Meet professional players who made a living by outwitting others, including famous riverboat gamblers George Devol and Canada Bill Jones, and Tombstone duo Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Keith Carradine introduces the rules of each game and demonstrates the types of weaponry gamblers carried.

Six-shooters--revolvers with six chambers--were as common as cell phones in the Wild West, but when one went off, it was more than annoying--it was most often deadly.

Touted as one of the "liveliest and [most] peculiar places west of the Mississippi," in Deadwood, speculators, misfits, and cold-blooded killers came together to stake their claim.

The Civil War is thought of as a conflict between North and South. But the West figured into it, too. There were more than 2,000 battles west of the Mississippi River--action stretched clear to the California coast.

The Wild West was a vast and bountiful frontier filled with animals, fur...and opportunity. The men who kept up with the latest technological advances had a big advantage in the taming of the West.

They could be violent...wicked...or downright absurd. Whether they helped to take down outlaws, save a life, or just plain amuse, these techno gizmos revolutionized the frontier.

In this episode, we find out that size did matter in the Old West, where cowboys wanted big toys! Big profits required big equipment to dig, dredge, paddle, and plough through the wilds of America. Technology would replace the pan and the pick with massive machines roaming the forests and deserts like dinosaurs, feeding on the minerals above and below the soil. Even weaponry was super-sized! We take a look at the huge and deadly Hotchkiss cannon and the cumbersome Colt Buntline Revolver, carried by famous frontier personalities like Wyatt Earp, Frank and Jesse James, and Judge Roy Bean. And we review the history of the infamous Mankato Gallows, built to execute 38 Dakota warriors at the same time on December 26, 1862 in Minnesota--the largest mass execution in US history. Hosted by David Carradine.