WHERE THE OLD WEST STAYED YOUNG

by John Rolfe Burroughs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1962

A unique addition to the annals of the American West, this vast and sprawling book tells of the rise and decline of the cattle industry in and around Brown's Park, Colo., doing for this relatively small section of the West what Ma Sandoz in The Cattlemen does for it in its entirety. Brown's Park or Brown's Hole, remote and still sparsely settled, lies in the northwest corner of Colorado, spilling into Utah and Wyoming. Here the author was born in 1903 and herehe grew up, knowing personally many of the characters he portrays, living through many of the experiences of which he writes. People who lived before his time he describes with almost first-hand knowledge, quoting from interviews with old men who know them, and from their letters, personal records and unpublished documents. From this labor of love emerges a picture of Brown's Hole as it was a hundred years ago and yesterday: fur-traders, ranchers and miners; Indian wars; honest men and blizzards and droughts; cattle barons, cowboys, cattle wars -- and the end of the free cattle ranges. Brown's Hole knew Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, and the hired killer, Tom Horn; cattle-rustling was endemic there, not quite a crime, not quite condoned, reaching its climax in the feud between Ann Bassett, ""Queen of the Cattle Rustlers"", and the great cattle baron, Ora Haley. Badly assembled, copiously illustrated and filled with authentic and fascinating material, this weighty and costly volume is not for bedside reading. Certain to be a collector's item, it will appeal to true aficionados of the Old West, and is a must for all comprehensive libraries of Western Americana.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION