THE RANCH ON THE CARIBOO

When he was twelve the author of this autobiography, now in his early thirties, went to work in a man's job for his father, ""The Old Man"", on their ranch in the Cariboo Valley in British Columbia, herding cattle, hunting bears, making hay, helping break horses. Though lacking the charm and objectivity of Stegner's recently published Wolf Willow and the detailed historical background of Burrough's Where the Old West Stayed Young, this book, like them, tells of life in the Far West in this present century. Haling school and loving the outdoors, when the Old Man sold the Cariboo ranch, the author, not yet to, found a job with a larger and tougher cattle outfit, riding herd, killing cattle ticks, sweating over hay and getting himself thrown by a vicious horse. After his parents' divorce he struck out for himself, working at various jobs, failing to find one as a merchant seaman and nearly starving in Vancouver, serving briefly with the Canadian Army; the book ends with his return to ranch life and his engagement. From appearances a first effort, this rather naive volume exemplifies a rule known to all professional writers not all private thoughts and personal experiences are of general interest, few casual conversations are worth repeating. At its best when its author forgets ""I"" and writes objectively of cattle, hay and horses, the book will appeal to his western contemporaries and to readers who know British Columbia ranches.