True tales and tall ones come alive in "Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier." Patrick Dearen of San Angelo is the author of this definitive, thoroughly documented study of six West Texas folk stories. Included are the stories of: - Castle Gap, a break in a mesa some 12 miles east of the Pecos River, used by Comanches on the warpath, emigrants seeking California gold and cattlemen driving Longhorns up the Goodnight-Loving Trail; - Horsehead Crossing, the most infamous ford of the Old West, considered the graveyard of hopes by drovers and emigrants alike; - Juan Cordona Lake, the cast salt...
True tales and tall ones come alive in "Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier." Patrick Dearen of San Angelo is the author of this definitive, thorough...
The Pecos River flows snake-like out of New Mexico and across West Texas before striking the Rio Grande. In frontier Texas, the Pecos was more moat than river, a deadly barrier of quicksand, treacherous currents, and impossibly steep banks. Only at its crossings - with such legendary names as Horsehead and Pontoon - could travelers hope to gain passage. Even if the river proved obliging, its Indian raiders and outlaws often did not. Its banks echoed with the sounds of the mythic Old West - the war cry of the Indian, the blast of the cowboy's six-shooter, the crack of the stage-driver's whip,...
The Pecos River flows snake-like out of New Mexico and across West Texas before striking the Rio Grande. In frontier Texas, the Pecos was more moat th...
Working cowboys live on as genuine legends who rode through a golden moment in American history. In the 1980s historian/ author Patrick Dearen went looking for the last of these fading icons. The trail took him to dozens of onetime cowhands in their 80s, 90s, and even 100s whose aged eyes lit up and voices seemed young again as they spoke of their experiences on the trail. From these honest-to-goodness cowhands he collected priceless, spellbinding true stories of the incredible hardships of braving the elements, dealing with stampedes and runaways, and good-natured hoorawing with their...
Working cowboys live on as genuine legends who rode through a golden moment in American history. In the 1980s historian/ author Patrick Dearen went lo...
The Big Bend of Texas is a mysterious place in 1869. Legend has it that there's a lost gold mine in the Chisos Mountains. Twelve-year-old Fish Rawlings and his cousin Gid have heard all about it. But when they discover a dying Indian in the desert, they have reason to believe it. Suddenly the boys find themselves with a great secret. No one else knows the way to the last Chisos mines-but do they dare? To find it, they must cross a desert prowled by Apache warriors. They must ride a trail haunted by devil animals and Indian spooks. Even with the help of a young Apache boy, the journey won't be...
The Big Bend of Texas is a mysterious place in 1869. Legend has it that there's a lost gold mine in the Chisos Mountains. Twelve-year-old Fish Rawling...
It was 1932, the depths of the Great Depression, and thousands of desperate people rode the rails in search of jobs, homes, and hope. For some, the tracks were a road to nowhere, a dead end in a boxcar or under the wheels or in a sea of emptiness. Their fate seemed certain-until Ish Watson grabbed the rungs of a passing freight train bound for a dying relative on the Texas Gulf Coast. He brought with him the traits bestowed by his rural upbringing faith, conviction and dedication. But now he faced thundering wheels ready to mutilate and knife-wielding hobos restless to kill, a barreling train...
It was 1932, the depths of the Great Depression, and thousands of desperate people rode the rails in search of jobs, homes, and hope. For some, the tr...
Cowman Mayer Halff rode a long, busy trail that few men could have followed. It carried him from 1850s France to Texas and across 1,500 miles of wild western country waiting to be tamed. Throughout his life, he was at ease whether dining with a U.S. President at a plush metropolitan banquet or squatting across a campfire from a dirt-streaked cowboy in some forsaken cow camp. Immigrating as a fourteen-year-old, Halff began as a foot peddler. He quickly built the largest dry goods business in the Southwest and by 1861 was pursuing his passion-cattle ranching. He founded several of Texas' famous...
Cowman Mayer Halff rode a long, busy trail that few men could have followed. It carried him from 1850s France to Texas and across 1,500 miles of wild ...
Fourteen-year-old Josh and his friend Shan are facing hard times on their families' farms in Central Texas in 1934. It's the days of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and rain is as scarce as money. With the long dry spell have come wild animals with flashing teeth and deadly rabies. Dust storms known as black blizzards are raging, threatening lives and destroying cropland. Will a rainmaker bring rain? Will their families lose their homes? Will Josh's and Shan's friendship survive? From rabid animal attacks to a deadly flood to a barreling freight train, Josh is in for an adventure he will...
Fourteen-year-old Josh and his friend Shan are facing hard times on their families' farms in Central Texas in 1934. It's the days of the Dust Bowl and...
Patrick Dearen went in search of buried treasures, not gold or silver or jewels, but untapped tales worthy of J. Frank Dobie. And he found for Lone Star Lost ten such stories that spring from the bedrock, shared with the author by native sons and daughters who know that the real treasure is our Texas heritage. These stories grew from the land--the Texas soil that gives birth to history and sprinkles it with legend. From the piney woods on the east to the Chihuahuan Desert on the west, from the subtropical marshes on the south to the mountains on the north, Texas is alive with the kind of...
Patrick Dearen went in search of buried treasures, not gold or silver or jewels, but untapped tales worthy of J. Frank Dobie. And he found for Lone St...
In his newest book, "Devils River, " Patrick Dearen traces the 400-year history of the notorious river from the time of the first Spanish explorers to the modernization of southwestern Texas and the coming of the railroad.
In his newest book, "Devils River, " Patrick Dearen traces the 400-year history of the notorious river from the time of the first Spanish explorers...
Tom Rowden has been riding away from the Pecos River for twenty years, plagued by the haunting image of his wife, Sarah, the second before he killed her. Now, he is dead-set on returning to her unmarked grave above the river to make one final atonement. His journey is interrupted when a group of Mexican bandits burn down the 7L's ranch house, kill the ranch boss, and rape and abduct his daughter, Liz Anne. The 7L's greenhorn wagon boss, Jess Graham, desperately begs for Tom's help in rescuing Liz Anne, the girl Jess loves. Tom obliges and sets out with Jess and his posse of ranch hands...
Tom Rowden has been riding away from the Pecos River for twenty years, plagued by the haunting image of his wife, Sarah, the second before he killed h...
