The Canadian Cowboy: Stories of Cows, Cowboys and Cayuses

Book Synopsis: In The Canadian Cowboy: Stories of Cows, Cowboys, and Cayuses, Andy Russell takes us on a winding trail through the history, legend, and lore of western life on this continent.Starting with the ranches of Old Mexico, we follow through time first the Spanish vaqueros (whose language, rigging, and dress provided the roots of cowboy lingo and gear), then the American cowpunchers, who drove thousands of head of cattle across Texas and the plains of the southwest, on to the eastern railheads. In time their ranches spread west and north and eventually came over the line into western Canada.

The author dedicates his book to "all the old cowboys," and the adventures of such legendary figures as stock detective Jack Reid, outfitter Bert Riggall, bronco-buster John Ware, and entrepreneur Pat Burns fill these pages. We also meet lesser known but equally colourful characters such as Happy Jack Jackson, Henry "Frenchy" Riviere, and "Barbwire" John Spears. And, as he outlines the history of the cowboy, the cow, and the cayuse in this country, Andy Russell has stories of his own family to tell too.

Along the way we learn about everything from the origin of the word "maverick," to methods of branding, how to rope and throw a longhorn (a method Andy applied with dramatic results in his boyhood), the invention of barbed wire, which changed the shape of the West, the disappearance and later conservation of the buffalo, the evolution of the rodeo, why cayuses are superior to camels, the diet on a trail drive ("thousands of things - all of 'em beans"), and how the real world of the cowboy differs from the popularized Hollywood version.

Andy Russell, himself a long-time cowboy and a student of western history, brings to his topic both the richly lived experience of "Canada's best-known mountain man" and the storytelling talent that has won him over five hundred thousand readers worldwide. The Canadian Cowboy is a must for history lovers, enthusiasts of things western, and everyone who loves an entertaining story.