Tall Tales of Frank T. Hopkins #621: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Robert Olney Easton Papers

Published August 13, 2026 at 6:00 AM MDT

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Portrait of Frank T. Hopkins. Box 4, Robert Olney Easton papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

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Photograph of Frank T. Hopkins’ riding gear. Box 4, Robert Olney Easton papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Photograph of three of Frank T. Hopkins’ favorite horses when he was appearing with Buffalo Bill, January 1937. Box 4, Robert Olney Easton papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Frank T. Hopkins died in 1951. He professed to have been a legendary frontiersman and an endurance horse rider. Several books cite him as a cavalry dispatch rider, outlaw slayer, and friend of Buffalo Bill Cody. However, the Robert Olney Easton Papers at UW’s American Heritage Center reveal inconsistencies in his story.

The alleged frontier legend claimed to be born at Fort Laramie in 1865 and to have served as a dispatch rider between two forts. But one fort was abandoned when he was just a toddler.

Hopkins also swore he had won a grueling endurance race in Arabia, inspiring the 2004 film Hidalgo. But a scholar has noted his claims were so outrageously false that it's puzzling why people were drawn to them.

In reality, Hopkins worked as a construction foreman in Philadelphia in 1926. The Robert Olney Easton papers at UW’s American Heritage Center offer a glimpse into a life where fiction may have overshadowed fact.