Pulling Leather: Being the Early Recollections of a Cowboy on the Wyoming Range, 1884-1889

by Reuben B. Mullins

During April in 1884, I took Horace Greeley s advice and headed for the big, open spaces in Wyoming. After dodging brakemen night and day, sleeping in boxcars, and living on crackers part of the time, I arrived in Cheyenne, after being incarcerated in a boxcar of lumber for twenty-four hours without food or water. Oh, yes, the old stomach felt as though it had gone on a prolonged vacation, while thirst had become a habit. Searching through my pockets, I found a lone fifty-cent piece, the only cash between me and starvation. Leaving the station yards, I found an eating joint where I filled up, but when I left that restaurant, I was broke and no job in sight.

Roundups, trail drives, a lynching, mail-order romances, blacksmithing, Indians, the blizzard of 1885-86, bunkhouse humor, Calamity Jane, cattle barons Reuben Mullins experienced the West as it will never be again. This first-hand account, told by a man who lived the life, has become a respected range classic.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

248 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

Reviews

[Art]

Not well known in western book circles that I know of, I bought the only copy I've ever seen with my own eyes in Wyoming back in the late 1990s. Well and clearly written, I reread this book every few years. Told in a low key modest style, it's very interesting for me to see what it was like to cowboy in 1885 verses Wyoming ranch work in the late 1990s when I worked the same job. Worth reading.

[Jody]

Interesting read - first person account from a cowboy circa 1885.

[Jude Conrad]

i found this book very endearing and i enjoyed it

[John]

An interesting recollection of a Montana Cowboy. I often remember and quote a passage in this book: "Never say Whoa when you're in a tight spot." I bought the book in Broadus MT which is an interesting experience in itself.

[Ron]

Read my review at my blog.