Cattle-Ranch to College
Page 1
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CATTLE RANCH TO COLLEGE.
A XXX BUNCH. (_Page 290._)]
CATTLE-RANCH TO COLLEGE
THE TRUE TALE OF A BOY'S ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST
BY
RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY
"A GUNNER ABOARD THE YANKEE"
NEW YORKDOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CoMDCCCXCIX
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BYDOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO
TO MY MOTHER,KINDLY CRITIC, COUNSELLOR, AND FRIEND,THIS BOOK ISAFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
This is a true tale of a boy's life in the West twenty-five years ago.It is an account of his amusements, his trials, his work, his play. Theincidents described actually happened and are described substantially as"the boy" related them to the writer.
The "wild and woolly" West is fast vanishing, and a great deal of theadventurous life is going with it. Buffalo hunts are things of the past;encounters with Indians that were experienced in the time of JohnWorth's boyhood are now happily very rare; railroads have penetrated thecattle country, and vast herds of cattle are no longer driven longdistances to the shipping point, so that the consequent danger,hardship, and excitement are largely done away with.
In places the great prairies have been fenced, in others grain growswhere heretofore only buffalo, cattle, and horses ranged, and much ofthe free, wild life of the cowboy, the ranchman, and the miner is gonefor all time.
It is hoped that this book will be of interest, not because of itsnovelty but of its truthfulness. The author feels that the story of aboy who has passed through the stern training of a frontier life to anhonorable place in an Eastern university will be acceptable to boysyoung and old.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. AN INDIAN ATTACK 1
II. THE YOUNG BRAVE'S DARING 20
III. A NARROW ESCAPE 36
IV. HITTING THE TRAIL 54
V. IN A MINING CAMP 73
VI. A SNOWSHOE RACE 91
VII. A BUFFALO HUNT 106
VIII. A CLOSE FINISH 122
IX. A "BAD MAN'S" END 140
X. BATTLE ROYAL 157
XI. A TRYING JOURNEY 177
XII. A CHANGE OF SCENE 195
XIII. HERDING HORSES AND PANNING GOLD 214
XIV. A MIGRATION 229
XV. "RANGE-RIDING" 245
XVI. A BRONCHO BUSTER 261
XVII. A COW-PUNCHER IN EARNEST 273
XVIII. A MIDNIGHT STAMPEDE 289
XIX. AN AWAKENING 304
XX. A TRANSFORMATION 317
XXI. TWELVE HUNDRED MILES AWHEEL TO COLLEGE 331