Book dossier

A vaquero of the brush country

by J. Frank Dobie

A Vaquero of the Brush Country is both vivid narrative and graphic history. The cattle industry of America began in the mesquitals between the Nueces and the Rio Grands; the first cowboys-- vaqueros--^ were "brush poppers." Now for the first time the story of this brush range and of the brush men is told. While the brush country assumes a character as extraordinary as that of the maquis of Corsica of the Everglades of Florida, the book sweeps over a far wider range. It is the story of the land where cattle by tens of thousands were killed on the prairie for their hides and where the "Skinning War" was fought. It is the story of the Chisholm Trail up to Abilene and the Platte beyond; of establishing a ranch on the free grass of the Texas Panhandle; of roping elk in Colorado; of trailing Billy the Kid, cow thief, in New Mexico; of the grim lands of the Pecos.^ The "hide and tallow factories," which threw trainloads of beef to the buzzards and coyotes; brand buyers as well as brand burners; the "Big Steal" and the "Break-up," in which Jim Lowe played such an amazing part; the "Bloody Border," where Cortina, "the Red Robber of the Rio Bravo," ruled and where ten times more Mexicans were killed than in the battle of San Jacinto; the razorback; the prairie dog; the pioneer drillers for water; the coming of barbed wire and windmills; the literature of McNelly's rangers; the things that cowboys roped-- from wild turkeys to locomotives; the bandana; the six-shooter; the mossy-horned Texas steers; mustangs; monte dealers; Horsehead Crossing; bugle-voiced Shanghai Pierce--^ all these and other features and personalities of the range weave into the story. Never before has so much range lore been packed into a book. John Young, the old-time vaquero whose vivid, first-person narrative gives the volume coherence, was trail driver, hog chaser, wild cow milker, sheriff, ranger, hunter of Mexican bandits, horse thief killer, horse trader, brasadero, discoverer of "the Man with the Iron Hand," "stray man," mustanger, prairie fire fighter, ranch manager, and other things. He wanted experience; he got it hot -- Book jacket.