AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



THE only excuse I can offer for the publication 

 in book form of the series of sketches which 

 under the title, "Recollections of a Ranchman," ap- 

 peared in The Breeder's Gazette, Chicago, from July 

 15, 1920, to and including the Holiday Number of 

 that year, is found in letters from people whom I 

 know and many whom I do not know, and from 

 librarians and educational institutions, suggesting 

 that the matter should be republished in this form. 



I confess that while the opinions of my immediate 

 friends are dear to me, yet they may be indulgent and 

 that the kind words written from the forks of the 

 creek by people whom I do not know have been a 

 greater boon to me. This is particularly true of old- 

 timers on the range who have commented on the 

 cowboy dialect used in some of the sketches as being 

 correct, or, as one or two have written, "You have 

 got the cowboy down fine." 



It is solace to a writer to have his written word 

 ring true to "men who know." Their expressions of 

 appreciation have gone straight to my heart. 



It has been a source of pleasure to look backward 

 over the cattle industry as it has come into my life, 

 and to recall some of the wonderful men whom it 

 has been my privilege to know. This prelude would 



[ix] 



