Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

In the early days of the Texas panhandle, starting a new life is hard--but keeping it is even harder. Espy Norwood is a troubleshooter who's got troubles of his own--and more troubles find him when he lands a job on a ranch on the Texas plains. Bitter landowners plot against him, determined cattle thieves sneak right under his nose, and his own son refuses to trust or even know him. Can he catch the thieves, save the ranch, and win his son's love?...

A story of tragedy and hope depicts the vicious conflict between a family and a gang of cattle thieves.

"A group of cattlemen, known as the Cheyenne Pool, have controlled the open range, but small-time famers are looking to homestead there. When some resort to rustling, the hard-driving foreman of the Pool refuses to give in to cattle thieves and forces a showdown"--

Caleb Hart was looking forward to a grand adventure on his uncle's ranch, 1200 miles from home and well beyond the eyes of his watchful parents. He knew nothing about the life of a cowboy, but reckoned he'd learn quick enough. And he did--by keeping one motto close to his heart: You ride for the brand. It was the one thing he could count on through rustling and kidnapping and hardcases after his hide. But what happens when the brand turns against...

Lefty Bill Ranger accepts an offer of employment from Menneval, a man feared throughout the territory. Monitoring the activities of rancher Peter Crosson and his son Oliver in California, Ranger sees a large mountain lion, pursued by a pack of wolves, and a young man on horseback armed with only a knife. Later, he sees two disreputable, heavily armed men enter the Crosson range, aiming to rustle cattle. When Ranger sees them again, they are on foot,...

Joel McCrea stars as a local ranch hand who risks losing his best friend and the woman he loves when forced into a showdown with ruthless cattle thieves.

"The Lawman. Deputy Sheriff Matt Forrester was determined to discover who was stealing cattle from Savannah Markum's ranch. But as the man who'd never stopped loving her, he yearned to protect her -- and the child who should have been his son. Just as Savanah should have been his wife ... and would be -- if Matt had his way. The Lady. Savannah's busy days were filled with single-handedly raising a toddler and running her ranch. Her lonely nights were...

"South Texas, 1854. Regis Royle is determined to turn eighteen-thousand acres of raw prairie into the greatest cattle ranch in the world. But he can't do it alone. The region is wilder than a herd of mustangs—and crawling with rustlers. Teaming up with the Cattlemen’s Justice Consortium, Regis hopes to stop the rustling and start laying tracks for a new railway. Problem is, the cattlemen—including Jarvis 'Bone' McGraw, Regis’s own ranch manager—can’t...

Long Bow Ranch was huge, even by standards of landholdings west of the Missouri River. The Long Bow riders couldn't patrol the entire ranch -- it was just too big -- and they were losing cattle in the Lost River Country to the Arapaho. When ranch owner old Jim Welsh had had enough, he went directly to the Arapaho and over four parlays, came to an agreement -- the Arapaho would take no more than ten cattle a year. And that arrangement was still in...

"When a wealthy cattle baroness hires Joe Buckhorn to track down her son, it sounds like easy money. But when he learns that the boy has run off with a girl--whose father is the leader of the cattle-rustling Riley clan--Buckhorn's only hope is to infiltrate the gang. Gain their trust. Live the outlaw life, even at the risk of death. There's just one problem: there's more than one gang. The Riley girl may have stolen a runaway boy's heart but the other...