Back Trail of an Old CowboyIn his book, Mr. Young remembers herding cattle and meeting up with old outlaws of the Wild Bunch on the Castle Dale range in Utah; riding roundups when the Yellowstone River country was all open range; having a tooth pulled by a dentist who put a kneeagainst his shoulder for purchase. He remembers turning strangers into friends, and he remembers their names, from Cass Hite, hiding out in the canyons, who helped him swim six horses across the Colorado River, to Jack Moran, the old-time rancher who collected the bets when the youthful Mr. Young beat Jack Dempsey at wrestling out behind a bar in Price, Utah. He remembers the bets he won riding outlaw mustangs; he recounts rodeo experiences and organizing a quarter-horse polo association, too, in Terry, Montana. Few people living today knew the era of the open range and the men and women who occupied its vast spaces. Rarer still is the articulate person like Paul Young who can--vividly, authentically, and in frank good humor--recall those days for the rest of us. |
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