Texas Cowboys

by Dane Coolidge

Book by Dane Coolidge

162 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

About the author

Dane Coolidge was born in Natick, Massachusetts, on March 24, 1873. He was brought up in Riverside, California, and received his higher education at Stanford and Harvard Universities. From 1895 to 1900 he was a field collector of mammals, birds and reptiles in Nevada, Arizona and Southern California for a number of institutions, including Stanford University, the British Museum, U. S. National Zoological Park, and the U. S. National Museum in Italy and France. On July 30, 1906, he married Nary Roberts, and the couple eventually made their home in Berkeley, California. In 1910, his first novel, Hidden Water, was published, and this was followed by a long succession of novels and some non-fiction, with California and Southwest locales. He and his wife collaborated on two books, The Navajo Indians (1930) and The Last of the Seris (1939). In addition, Coolidge contributed short stories and illustrated articles to several magazines, including Youth's Companion, Sunset, Redbook, Harper's and Country Life in America. Mr. Coolidge died in 1940; Mrs. Coolidge, in 1945.

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Western writer and photographer Dane Coolidge (1873-1940), cousin of Calvin, grew up on a citrus ranch in Riverside County, California, and knew old-time cowboys first hand. This book about Texas cowboys actually takes place in Arizona on Indian reservation land, where Coolidge spent some time with the Cherrycow outfit at the turn of the last century, taking photographs as a cover, he says, for gathering material for his writings about the West.

Familiar with California-style cowboys, he is quick to notice the differences among those from Texas, the way they dress, the way they work cattle, and the way they carry on. Many, it seems, were in Arizona in the first place because they were on the run from the law back home. There are 32 photographs in this book, most of them showing these cowboys at work. The thread of discourse that holds them together is an account of Coolidge's time spent with these men as they break horses and then round up cattle from the open ranges for branding.

Stories get told about, for instance, the cook who quits when the schoolmarm wife of one of the bosses corrects his grammar. There's also an account of Coolidge's wandering for days in search of the outfit, with only telegraph lines and the conflicting directions of other travelers to guide him. He pays a visit to a tribe of Apaches, who seem to be well fed on rustled beef. One long chapter is devoted to ribald cowboy songs and sentimental ballads. Finally, he captures in dialogue something of the raillery by which the cowboys amuse themselves. First published in 1937, this edition includes a 1981 essay in appreciation of Coolidge by Owen Ulph. It belongs on any shelf of cowboy and Southwest literature.