The 101 Ranch

Even among iconic frontiersmen like John C. Frémont, Kit Carson, and Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger stands out. A mountain man of the American West, straddling the fur trade era and the age of exploration, he lived the life legends are made of. His adventures are fit for remaking into the tall tales Bridger himself liked to tell. Here, in a biography that finally gives this outsize character his due, Jerry Enzler takes this frontiersman’s full measure for the first time—and tells a story that would do Jim Bridger proud. Born in 1804 and orphaned at thirteen, Bridger made his first western foray in 1822, traveling up the Missouri River with Mike Fink and a hundred enterprising young men to trap beaver. At twenty he “discovered” the Great Salt Lake. At twenty-one he was the first to paddle the Bighorn River’s Bad Pass. At twenty-two he explored the wonders of Yellowstone. In the following years, he led trapping brigades into Blackfeet territory; guided expeditions of Smithsonian scientists, topographical engineers, and army leaders; and, though he could neither read nor write, mapped the tribal boundaries for the Great Indian Treaty of 1851. Enzler charts Bridger’s path from the fort he built on the Oregon Trail to the route he blazed for Montana gold miners to avert war with Red Cloud and his Lakota coalition. Along the way he married into the Flathead, Ute, and Shoshone tribes and produced seven children. Tapping sources uncovered in the six decades since the last documented Bridger biography, Enzler’s book fully conveys the drama and details of the larger-than-life history of the “King of the Mountain Men.” This is the definitive story of an extraordinary life.

Chronicles the history of the 101 Ranch and discusses how the ranch's traveling show embodied the spirit of the American frontier.

In the first third of the twentieth century, the 101 Real Wild West Show was known halfway round the world. It featured such headliners as Bill Pickett, the African-American inventor of bulldogging, and the future Hollywood film stars Tom Mix, Buck Jones, and Hoot Gibson. What was not so well known abroad was that the show stemmed from a real, working ranch that rivaled the fabled XIT Ranch in the folklore of the West.

A well-trained, responsive, and intelligent working cow horse is more than just a pleasure to ride or watch in action; such an animal is an integral part--a prized employee, if you will--of a ranch's workforce. How to find and then educate the horse to work cattle in pens and on the range, to negotiate a variety of terrains, and perform all the other tasks it will be asked to do (under a variety of often adverse conditions) is the subject of this handy guide. For example: Being able to open a gate from horseback is a mandatory job for any cowboy. A good place to introduce the young horse to this experience is by using a gate set up as part of an obstacle course. It is desirable and safer if the gate can swing freely and is without any attachments. Start by simply walking your horse through the gate when it's open. Reaching down and gently swinging the gate as you pass through it is the next step. If your horse is a little spooked by your reaching down, be aware that horses are naturally afraid of tight places. Once your horse can pass through an open gate, then attempt to open a closed gate. Be sure your horse fully understands your hand and leg cues before attempting this step, because he must be able to move off your leg to stand next to the fence, move toward the fence as it swings open to let you pass through, and then move around so you can close it. Written by an experienced rancher and horse trainer, 101 Ranch Horse Tips will show you how to start a young horse or improve an older one with techniques that can apply to performance and enjoyment on or beyond the cattle ranch.

Bill Pickett Biography, outstanding black cowboy bulldogger.

Louise Erdrich meets Karen Russell in this deliciously strange and daringly original novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble: An eclectic cast of characters--both real and ghostly--converge at an amusement park in Nashville, 1926.

“[A] superb new historical novel . . . about the heady late 1920s, when the public went crazy every day over barnstorming pilots and their heroic stunts.”—Publishers Daily Reviews People are doing all sorts of screwy things in 1929. It is a time of hope, boundless optimism, and prosperity. “Blue Skies” is the song on everyone’s lips. The tabloids are full of flagpole sitters, flappers, and marathon dancers. Ever since Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic solo, the entire world has gone nuts over flying. But everyone agrees that the stunt pilots take the cake. Jenny Flynn defies the odds and conventions in her pursuit of the sky. She attracts the attention of Laura Bailey, a brash reporter crashing through her own glass ceiling at a New York City newspaper. Laura chases the pilot’s story—and the truth about her own mysterious father—on a barnstorming escapade from Manhattan to the Midwest. Flying Jenny offers a vivid portrait of an earlier time when airplanes drew swarming crowds entranced by the pioneers—male and female—of flight. Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Awards, Fiction “[A] romp through the early days of women’s aviation history . . . Debutante pilot Jenny Flynn and cub reporter Laura Bailey carry the spunk of Thelma & Louise to new heights as they fight for space in the cockpit and the city room.”—Janet Groth, author of The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker “Tuohy uses both Jenny and Laura to explore gender roles in the late 1920s and how two young women push their own boundaries as well as the society around them.”—Historical Novels Review