True cowboy tales still have a power over us. Someday and perhaps that day is coming soon, cows won’t be raised on the range at all. Now many are raised on small intensely cultivate acreage, rotated on and off between the pastures, trained to come to the trough and then finally delivered to feed lots to be stuffed with corn and pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones. Eventually cloned and artificially grown beef will be available, and it will only leave the nutrient tank when it is delivered to the meat market. This will be beef that has never been born. No need for a round up, roping, gathering or nada.
But that day isn’t here just yet. Cattle are raised all over the world on land where you can’t really grow anything else. Except goats; they can thrive where nothing else can. So you have areas such as West Texas and The Big Bend with its lunar landscape, and climate so hot and dry that cactus will barely grow, and there you have your cattle; and you have cowboys as well. And there’s a lot of herding and gathering and rounding up, and still a lot of roping too. There’s mechanization, helicopters and four wheelers, but they only go so far. A determined man on a determined horse with skill and a rope is still the last and best resort for getting the job done.
This story was written by Don Cadden, but is told mostly in the words of the stories protagonist, Apache Adams; a modern day West Texas Legend. Raised on the Rio Grande on an isolated Ranch, Apache Adams never knew anything else than the cowboy way. At the time it must have seemed more like surviving and living, but know looking back he must see it as a grand adventure.
It’s pretty much a straight ahead tale told by Apache Adams to his friend and writer Don Cadden. And it’s told in the same way you go after a runaway steer; hard fast and straight ahead. There have been some classic cowboy tales that followed the exact same path…keep it simple, tell it straight, and let the facts tell the tale. There’s adventure enough here without adding any frills or fluff. From crossing the Rio Grande to deal with Mexican rustlers, to roping a mountain lion, to a West Texas country boy dealing with road rage in Houston (in a very unique manner, utilizing his skills as a farrier).
vThe cattle business was quite the adventure as well. Prices would often tank, ranches would go bankrupt, but in part because of a never say die, hell bent for leather attitude Apache would survive. For instance, a cow operation goes belly up, cattle must be rounded up, and the real independent minded ones don’t give up easy. There’s a fifty-fifty commission opportunity here for someone to rope and haul off these renegades.
A hard charging vaquero of this ilk is a true favorite as well of orthopedic surgeons everywhere. There have been some wrecks along the cowboy highway. It seems to be part of the game.
If you’re looking for a dose of humor along with the reality of a legendary way of life told hard and fast, Tie into this one. Tied Hard and Fast, Apache Adams, Big Bend Cowboy by Don Cadden.Y
You can grab a copy at Amazon>>
