Vinita R. Bledsoe a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Department
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Arizona cattle ranches in fiction Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Bledsoe, Vinita Rose, 1895- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 06/10/2021 10:03:25 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/551127 ARIZONA CATTLE RANCHES IN FICTION by Vinita R. Bledsoe A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate College University of Arizona 1 9 4 5 Approved: TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE PROBLEM.................... 1 IX. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR ARIZONA RANCH LITERATURE..................... 29 III. LEADING CHARACTERS OF ARIZONA RANCHES . A7 IV. OUTLAWS, RUSTLERS, AND RENEGADES . 67 V. FICTITIOUS OUTLAWS 1928-1935 .... SO VI. FICTITIOUS OUTLAWS 1936-1944 .... 109 VII. RANGE WARS, MORMONS, AND RANGERS . 172 VIII. EAST MEETS WEST................. 212 IX. MYSTERIES, MISCELLANEOUS, AND PIONEERS . 257 X. CONCLUSION .................... 284 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................. 291 1 6 9 3 3 5 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Hundreds of novels have been written about life on Arizona ranches and, for many years, the cowboy has been a popular character in fiction. The general opinion has been that the authors have portrayed these people to suit their reading public rather than in their true light. No thorough survey of the problem has been made in Arizona. It is the purpose of this study to make that survey: (1) to criticize all ranch novels as to authenticity; (2) to classify them as to plot; and (3) to prepare an annotated bibliography of them. Because of the widespread popularity of the fiction of Arizona ranches it is important that the worthwhile and authentic be segregated from that which is worthless and misleading. In many sections of the United States reliable regional novels have been presented, but so far in Arizona there have been no authors of ranch novels who have won the stamp of approval from literary critics. If there are any books or parts of books which do accurately portray this particular phase of Arizona life, they should be given recognition. 2 The age about which much has been written has passed, many of the more prolific writers are not now liv ing and, if the ranch folklore of Arizona is to he pre served, it is imperative that something be done soon. The first logical step is to collect the best that has been written into some available and organized form. With such a goal in mind it is necessary to divide the novels as to plot and, for the convenience of any who might carry bn the work, compile a bibliography with suitable notations. Some of the terms and expressions used must be de fined. A ranch is a large tract of land used for the breed ing and raising of cattle, horses, or sheep. A cow ranch is one for cattle, both male and female, since in Arizona the word "cow" refers to both and is used in place of the correct term "cattle." Cowboys are never "cattle boys,” and only newcomers in the state designate cow ranches as cattle ranches. The expressions outfits and spreads are used to indicate all the holdings of one man or company. A rustler is a common cow thief. Hester refers to a cowboy who has taken up a small tract of land to start a ranch of his own. It was usually done when the cowboy decided to marry' and settle down. Squatter was the uncomplimentary term applied to farmers who came West to homestead land for farming. Often the expressions are used interchange ably, but originally there was a distinction. Other char acteristic words of the cowboy will be defined as they are 3 used. A good authority on them is Ramon F. Adams in 1 Cowboy Lingo, a useful book. To explain: If Professor Throckmorton Q. Abercrombie, Ph. D., of Harvard and Oxford happened to be around an Arizona chuck-wagon at supper time, he might in a moment of sociability remark that "the transcendentalism of Kant tends to affirm the existence of *a priori* principles of cognition." • "Yes, suh, thet’s a fack,” the cowboy on his left would acknowledge, politely, but.he wouldn’t know what the hell the professor was talking about. "It was a Hashknife paint and two mavericks got in the Forked S remuda today," the cowboy would say pre sently - and then the professor wouldn’t know what the hell. In short there is a nomenclature of the range, es pecially a brand alphabet and language, which is as in triguing as Sanskrit and almost as hard to learn unless you are brought up with it. The cowboy can be forgiven, because he hadn’t had the opportunity to study philoso phy; but the broadly literate Dr. Abercrombies have persistently ignored the Americana of cowboyland.2 Brands are important in the cow country, and many ranches are better known by the brand than by the name of the owner. There have been brands used symbolic of the rancher’s names. Miss Katie Barr used K T Bar; James 3 ■ Flake, J I M; and Lawrence O ’Keefe branded 0 K on his stock. Old-timers in Cochise County say that it was from O ’Keefe’s brand, established there in the early eighties, that the national expression OK comes. The story is that iRamon F . Adams. Cowboy Lingo (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1936), p. 2lT7 20ren Arnold and John P. Hale. Hot irons (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1942), p. 30. 3oren Arnold and John P. Hale, "How to Read a Brand," Arizona Highways. March, 1942, p. 32. 4 the OK’s were good cattle. If a steer was all right, in top shape, it looked like an 0 K, and from that evolved the mean ing as it is understood now. Cowboys refer to stock by the brands; for example, "that old Z Slash M horse and a Flying H heifer." A philologist could ever convince a cowpuncher that OK came from either the Cherokee "okeh” or the Choctaw "oke.” In the West it was the cow man who started the ex pression and not an Indian. The following are a couple of ’’working" brands in Arizona at the present: BROKEN DIAMOND K BAR BOOT Clarence Buddington Kelland Shattuck, Lutley, Phoenix and Meadows Bisbee In the days when cattle on the range were stolen simply by changing the brand, the rustlers would choose a brand similar to that of some large neighboring ranch which could easily be worked over; for example: 0 - ) CROSS ANCHOR PICK AND RING Work of the (original ranch) (outlaw ranch) "Rewrite man" There is nothing else on a ranch so useful or so romantic as the brand, and it is never considered a show of 5 conceit to display it. Roadsigns, embroidered linens, the baby’s blocks, designs for a flowerbed, stationery, and jewelry all may carry the rancher’s identifying mark. In order to verify the statement that the cowboy is an ever-popular character, one needs pause for only a few minutes to consider him. From 1902 when Owen Wister pub- 4 5 lished The Virginian straight through to the present, there has been an increasing number of ’’Westerns" appearing on the bookstands and Arizona has been for these decades a favorite setting. The late English author, John Galsworthy, said he spent his entire childhood here, not in England. That was because he "sneaked out of bounds" from his English school to buy "penny bloods" (western thrillers) and re turned to his rooms to read in excited delight about gun- 6 men and Indians on the Arizona frontier. Just a casual glance at public library shelves will reveal large numbers of well-worn western novels which li brarians, from observation, believe to be read by all classes of people from the "tired businessman" who seeks 40wen Wister, The Virginian (Hew York: The Macmillan Co., 1902), 506 pp. ^Nelson C . Nye. Wild Horse Shorty (New York: Macmillan and Co., 1944), 251 pp. ^Feature column, "The Literary Lantern," Arizona Daily Star. December 18, 1942. 6 7 relaxation to the thrill-loving adolescent. The Joseph A. Munk Library of Arizona in the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, has more than sixteen thousand volumes or printed , 8 ' items dealing wholly with Arizona. It is said that the sale of western novels is ex tensive in the New England states. This can be understood because it is perfectly natural for people to enjoy reading about thrilling adventures in strange lands; but the amaz ing thing is that the Westerners themselves peruse every thing they can find which tells about their way of living. On the whole they are highly scornful of it all and yet appear to be intrigued, not only by the fiction, but by the motion pictures and radio programs which portray ranch life. Because of his popularity in fiction, the Arizona cowboy has been presented to the public in many other ways. Dozens of western magazines have printed short stories, novelettes, and novels about him. The editors themselves have wondered at the vast demand for them. One made this comment in an editorial: We have always been-a little puzzled by the popular ity of western s.tories among people of other lands. The West is so wholly American that it seems almost incom prehensible that there should be a demand for its 7conversation with librarians in Carnegie Public Library, Tucson, September, 1943.