West Of Eden

About the Book

You will find West Of Eden to be an action filled tale with no dead spots to be plowed through. It takes place in the latter decades of the nineteenth century and continues through the beginning decades of the twentieth century. Many of the incidents and the manner in which our pioneer ancestors lived and conducted their daily lives in this story are based on tales handed down from generation to generation in my family. The four love stories add spice and entail the manner in which pioneer people handled affairs of the heart.

The families of four ranches are faced with a mysterious rustling of their cattle in a manner that makes no sense. Over a period of time, every ranch, even though they are many miles apart, come to know that each is losing cattle. Working together, the owners and their cowhands try to figure out the real reason for the senseless rustling activities.

At the same time in the Ute Indian village of Chief Red Feather, their Shaman has spoken to the Wolf Spirit at the Sacred Circle high in the mountains and is told that bad white men and members of the local Blackfeet Indian tribe are working together to bring great trouble to both the Utes and to the white people. The Wolf Spirit does not know the exact plans of the white men and Blackfeet but advises the Shaman to work with the white people or great harm will come to both peoples. While the trouble is brewing, Raymond and Harry Crawford are planning to start a cattle ranch west of the C bar C ranch and are beginning their preparations to settle on lands in the Blue Mountains. They travel to Texas to locate a large herd of unbranded maverick cattle that they can round up and drive to their new ranch lands. Having located the cattle, they prepare corrals for use next summer when they will return to Texas for the roundup and long cattle drive to Montana. How they survive a terrible Montana winter in the wilderness without a house and very little money is a testimony of their courage and resourcefulness.

On their return from Texas, they attend a dance on the TC Ranch where Raymond meets and falls in love with the ranch schoolteacher, Marilyn Little. Their passionate night together sets the stage for their eventual marriage. But they will have to wait until the cattle drive from Texas is finished the next summer. And violent trouble awaits Marilyn Johnny Wayne Tennery, owner of the TC Ranch, together with George Wright, owner of the G slash J, try for months to discover who is behind the rustling and what the real reasons for the seemingly senseless actions are. They learn that several hardcases have drifted through Centerville, some whom the Town Marshal has wanted posters for them. Arriving by ones or twos, they’d stay a night and move on.

They finally learn who is behind the rustling and what the real plot against them is. The steps they take to meet the menace involve not only the four largest ranches but also others around the area as well. The final culmination of their actions is direct, brutal and ultimately fatal for many people, both good and the bad. The actions involve cowhands, Indians and outlaws, as well as three ranch wives who operate an impromptu field hospital. The battle scenes are graphic with the sights, sounds, smells and acts that attend all such actions be they modern or ancient. The descriptions of the field treatment of the gravely wounded are not intended to shock or sicken the reader but instead provide an insight of what it was like to provide aid that was often too late, too little and all too often, did more harm than good. During the same period, a terrible, savage and depraved albino man appears in Wolf Creek and commits a monstrous and perverted murder of a bartender who had ejected him from a saloon. How this bestial man escapes capture and survives a Montana winter to ultimately menace a young girl on the Round Valley Ranch will keep the reader glued to the pages of t

About the Author

Born in 1926, I am a product of the Great Depression, my experiences in WWII and my life’s work as a forest ranger. The stories handed down generation to generation in my family, provided a basis for writing about the pioneers who by moving westward over the decades, built this great nation. How they lived, what they believed in and the manner in which they responded to threats by others to themselves, their loved ones and neighbors is the way in which my ancestors lived, loved, fought and died. My experiences as a forest ranger in the wild lands of California and camping and hiking in the primitive areas, provided an understanding of the unforgiving aspect of nature toward the mistakes made by men who dare to intrude upon her domain.