Classic Western Literature

This is the third in a series about the Saddle Boys in western-themed stories. You learned first about the adventures of two inquisitive youths of by-gone days. They are Frank Haywood, only son of rich miner/ranch owner Leonidas Haywood, and Frank’s friend Bob Archer, who hails from Kentucky. They became known far and wide after being seen riding and dashing over the prairies at top-notch speed. They were often confronted by a spoiled young Peg, (nickname for Percy Egbert Grant), whose wealthy father let him get by with more than he should.

When he learns of his parents' death in a train crash, Sam Dana makes his way home to the Bar D ranch—not to claim it, but to settle the estate and move on. He has no need for the hard life of a cattleman after finally striking it big as a prospector. But what Sam finds is far from the home he remembers. The ranch has become an armed camp led by his cantankerous half-brother, Walt, who's been hiring men more skilled with a six-gun than a lasso. In Sam's absence, things have gone downhill in all ways possible.

The Saddle Boys in this western-themed series are Frank Haywood, only son of rich miner/ranch owner Leonidas Haywood, and Frank’s friend Bob Archer, who hails from Kentucky. They became known far and wide after being seen riding and dashing over the prairies at top-notch speed. They were often confronted by a spoiled young Peg, (nickname for Percy Egbert Grant, whose wealthy father let him get by with more than he should).

Phil Evarts is dead, and the Hatchet Range is up for grabs. That's 70,000 acres of prime turf just waiting for the man rich enough to buy it . . . or the gunman crazy enough to kill for it. Every schemer in town has his eyes on Hatchet, and Bide Mariner leads the charge. An unscrupulous rancher who'll stop at nothing for cash, Mariner has the money and the guns to take whatever he wants. Only Will Ballard stands in his way—and that means Ballard is marked for death.

This is a story of a valiant man who became a sort of American version of Robin Hood. His efforts were a courageous attempt to restore justice in early 19th-century Mexican California, where a corrupt governor was viciously exploiting the poor and downtrodden. It was a period when there were large haciendas and resident caballeros confronted by the harsh oppression. This brought forth a fictional effort featuring the persona of a masked laughing outlaw calling himself Zorro.

Hopalong Cassidy, the iconic western cowboy hero conceived by Clarence Mulford, was immortalized in a highly popular film series starring William Boyd from 1935-1948. A tough-talking and violent character in print, Hopalong Cassidy was remade into a clean-cut screen hero who roamed the West with his sidekicks and fought villains who took advantage of the weak. Here Cassidy is drawn as Mulford originally conceived; rough-and-tumble, foul-mouthed, and thriving on brawls and gunplay.

Never bet more than you can afford to lose. Caroline Pruett should have heeded that advice, because once she lost her stake, there was no going back. Or was there? Desperation has clouded Caroline's judgment, because when she loses King, her thoroughbred stallion, to Micah Sutton in a poker game, the first thing she does is steal him back. The adventure is not quite a success, however, and after accidentally shooting Micah, Caroline and King are on the run.

"My boy, may an old man's curse rest upon you, if you do not try to avenge your father!" Answering those words, young Frank Eaton determines to settle with each of the six men who had riddled his father full of lead. Frank's thirst for a reckoning takes him across the lawless Indian Territory, to Southwest City, Missouri, to the wide-open mesa lands of eastern New Mexico and, finally, to Albuquerque.

Zane Grey's tale shines like the gold in this story. He deftly combines the contemporary history of the border uprising between the United States and Mexico with a fast-moving adventure tale. The prologue describes the finding of gold and the sad plight of the prospectors who discovered it. They will the treasure to the story's heroine. Dick Gale, an eastern college football star, and not much else, teams up with an old friend to rescue the girl and make a man of himself.

This novel by John Fox, Jr., narrated by John Michaels, captures the essence of pre coal-mining life in the Eastern Kentucky mountains, isolated since the Revolutionary War, as the residents move into the 20th century. Fox weaves the love story of Hale, an outsider and June Tolliver, a mountain girl against the background of coal companies ravaging the mountains and a 30-year fued between the Tollivers and the Falins.

Along the harsh North California coast the otters swam, enough to fill the Russians' trading ships with valuable pelts. So there they raised an outpost. But inland lay another land, a river wilderness, where game and grizzly thrived. Into this wild land, stripped of his rank for marrying an Indian girl, Lieutenant Anton Rostov is cast. He is an man without a country, but still he is a man. He can hunt, trap, and conquer. And he discovers a power greater than his allegiance to a faraway Czar - the lure of a new world.

Written first as a series of stories in the late 19th century and published later as the quintessential Western novel in the early years of the 20th century, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains by Owen Wister contains elements of breathtaking adventure, courage, grit, conflict, humor, and heartfelt emotions that continue to resonate in the 21st century.

In 1871 Utah, young Jane Withersteen is courted by Elder Tull, the leader of her polygamous Mormon church. When Jane refuses, the local Mormons persecute her. Meanwhile, Jane's friend, Bern Venters, is captured by Tull's posse and faces a harsh sentence. Jane defends him, causing even more friction with the Mormon populace.

Jane Withersteen, a sincere and faithful young Mormon woman, is persecuted by members of her own church. The as yet unmarried Withersteen has inherited a large and rich piece of property from her father. Elder Tull, an older church leader with several wives already, wants to marry her, but she does not want to marry him. She refuses him and is subsequently beset by troubles as Tull and his men wage a secret vindictive campaign against her.

Far from the battlefields of Gettysburg or Shiloh or Bull Run, deadly raids in the name of the Confederacy raged on the plains of Eastern Kansas. In a time when boys grew up fast and were called upon to do things beyond their years, this is the story of one such young man. His name, Branson Hawk. Although the cost to young Branson was beyond anything he could have imagined, one goal became a constant in his life as he tried to pick up the pieces: make the marauders pay. It was a promise to his ma, a promise he was bound to keep no matter the consequences.

Clint Black runs the biggest operation in Montana. He has his own personal army of cutthroats - and he doesn't like competition. The trouble begins when Smoke Jensen brings 3,500 head of cattle up from Colorado to sell to Black's neighbor. More bloodthirsty than businesslike, Clint sets up a roadblock, backed by the biggest guns in the territory. Then he sends word out to Smoke Jensen: Back down or die.

Zane Grey's first western story, written in 1909, is based on a real character, Buffalo Jones. Grey's descriptive art was just beginning in this story. But he brings color and life to the area between the Grand Canyon and Utah. The story follows Grey, Jones, and a company of colorful characters on a "hunt" bent on capture rather than shooting.

Branson Hawk agrees to assist a beautiful woman retrieve her dead brother for burial back home, but the accidental death begins to look suspicious because a fortune in gold is missing. Hawk is thrown into a covert investigation with multiple suspects and danger at every turn. The deeper into the mystery he delves; the more he realizes that no one can be trusted. And the beautiful woman? Well, this is a story about US Marshal Branson Hawk. He always gets his man, but will he get the woman?

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

He spent his life with his sketchbook in his hands. Highly creative and a gifted artist and writer, Alfred Lambourne shares what he captured upon those pages as his experience of crossing the plains with the pioneer Latter-day Saints as a 16-year-old boy. Lambourne’s sketchbook was filled as he collected his thoughts, expressions and artistic depictions of his travel. Share in one man’s unique perspective on the trek west. Learn from the insights contained within, and discover what it truly meant to him to be on the pioneer trail.