Cow Dust And Saddle Leather.

BEN W. AND J.C. DYKES KEMP

Publication: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968, Norman

First edition. 8vo. Cloth, xvii [1], 300 pp., foreword, introduction, illustrated, appendix, index. Ben Kemp ranged over much of Southwest Texas, the Big Bend, Southwest New Mexico, and spent his last years in the Tonto Basin in Arizona. "At twenty-one, he was considered the best broncobuster in his part of Texas. In the 1880s, he was a Texas Ranger and took part in the last fight between the Rangers and the Indians. His personal acquaintances included outlaws and grizzly bears, and 'the hurricane deck of a Western mustang was his throne. He rode high and wide until drought and barbed wire closed in and open range was no more.'" An entertaining account of a lawman and cowman on the frontiers of Texas and New Mexico. While he was never a big ranch operator, he supplemented his income with his well drilling rig, the first in that section of New Mexico, and probably his most profitable venture. Former owner's small name label on front pastedown sheet, else a fine, tight copy in a price-clipped dust jacket, lightly sunned on the spine with a small closed tear to top edge of front cover.

Inventory Number: 52405