From the Pecos to the Powder: A Cowboy's Anthology

I first came upon "Kickin" Bob Kennon by an article or two in an old copy of TRUE WEST magazine back when ole "Hosstail" Joe Small was publishing it in Austin, Texas. He was the real mccoy (both Small and Kennon) as they say, Kennon having been a forest ranger, stock inspector, deputy sheriff, and doorkeeper for the state senate of Montana, later becoming a rancher, and fortunately for us, a writer. As the review in the October, 1965, TRUE WEST magazine stated "cowboy artist Joe Beeler really put life into the story". That also could be said for both Kennon and his story, plus the renowned writer Ramon F. Adams as well. This book relates first hand, primary source material of what it was like back in the 1890s when Kennon knew the Ketchum gang, was pals to and hung out with the artist Charlie Russell, later meeting some pretty rough customers such as Kid Curry and Curry's brothers. By 1896 Kennon was 'punching cows for prolific Don Luis Terrazas, cattle king of Chihuahua", driving a couple thousand head of Mexican steers to Montana. What yarns this man could spin, and many of them are right there in the book! My hardcover, 1st edition, is signed by artist Joe Beeler, and now that all these hombres have gone on to their respective rewards, this book becomes more and more valuable to me, both in reading material and also dinero. Even ole "Hosstail" and TRUE WEST are now gone too, yeah I know, something called a Hollywood True West is still being published, but it isn't even close to what it once was either, in my opinion. Poor ole Joe Small, he worked so hard to keep TRUE WEST historical, and it has all gone Hollywood and movie 'pop'. So grab a copy of this one if you treasure the old time west of the "I was there, I saw it", mode of history and along with the people who lived in it everyday. Nothing of its like will ever pass this way again. But, and that is a very large BUT, you can still read about it in this book, and others like it. Semper Fi.