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Beschreibung
Ever wonder why cowboys sing? Or where Henry Starr's treasure is buried? Or what legend lies behind the origin of the word "rawhide"? The prairies and plains are bursting with stories, a region whose flat openness belies a colorful history that's now captured in this cornucopia of colorful tales.
David Dary is a master storyteller and award-winning historian who was born in the region and still calls it home. In this book, he shares forty forgotten tales that capture the history, romance, and lore of early life on the plains and prairie--rollicking adventures set between the Rio Grande and the Canadian border that reflect the reality of life in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
These stories have been gleaned from old newspaper accounts and little-known published sources, reflecting Dary's intimate knowledge of his stomping ground. A veritable treasury of lost legends, the book blends history and folklore to offer a fond look back at settlers and Indians, desperados and cowboys--including just how it is that the latter became known for singing.
In these enchanting vignettes, Dary takes readers along trails and rails to tell how the Staked Plains got their name and to recall times when women were scarce. He unearths legends of buried treasure spanning the region and spins tales of buffalo and bears. He tells of famous lawmen like Seth Bullock of Deadwood fame and outlaws like Belle Starr, and sheds light on other famous and obscure personalities, from Chief Old Wolf to Fort Mann's woman soldier, Caroline Newcomb, to Teddy Roosevelt, the badlands rancher who became president.
For anyone who thinks of America's middle as dull, True Tales of the Prairies and Plains offers a corrective that entertains as it informs. It is a book as wide-ranging as the land it covers, preserving nuggets of lore from perpetual obscurity and promising readers hours of enjoyment, whether on or off the trail.
Ever wonder why cowboys sing? Or where Henry Starr's treasure is buried? Or what legend lies behind the origin of the word "rawhide"? The prairies and plains are bursting with stories, a region whose flat openness belies a colorful history that's now captured in this cornucopia of colorful tales.
David Dary is a master storyteller and award-winning historian who was born in the region and still calls it home. In this book, he shares forty forgotten tales that capture the history, romance, and lore of early life on the plains and prairie--rollicking adventures set between the Rio Grande and the Canadian border that reflect the reality of life in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
These stories have been gleaned from old newspaper accounts and little-known published sources, reflecting Dary's intimate knowledge of his stomping ground. A veritable treasury of lost legends, the book blends history and folklore to offer a fond look back at settlers and Indians, desperados and cowboys--including just how it is that the latter became known for singing.
In these enchanting vignettes, Dary takes readers along trails and rails to tell how the Staked Plains got their name and to recall times when women were scarce. He unearths legends of buried treasure spanning the region and spins tales of buffalo and bears. He tells of famous lawmen like Seth Bullock of Deadwood fame and outlaws like Belle Starr, and sheds light on other famous and obscure personalities, from Chief Old Wolf to Fort Mann's woman soldier, Caroline Newcomb, to Teddy Roosevelt, the badlands rancher who became president.
For anyone who thinks of America's middle as dull, True Tales of the Prairies and Plains offers a corrective that entertains as it informs. It is a book as wide-ranging as the land it covers, preserving nuggets of lore from perpetual obscurity and promising readers hours of enjoyment, whether on or off the trail.
Über den Autor

David Dary is winner of the Cowboy Hall of Fame Wrangler Award, two Western Writers of America Spur Awards, the Westerners International Best Nonfiction book Award, and the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement from the Western Writers of America. He worked for CBS News and NBC News in Texas and Washington, D.C., and for many years taught journalism, first at the University of Kansas and then as head of the School of Journalism at the University of Oklahoma, from which he recently retired. He is the author of fourteen previous books, including Cowboy Culture, The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends and Lore, and The Oregon Trail: An American Saga.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Part I: Over the Trails and Rails

1. Jim Fugate’s Adventures on the Santa Fe Trail

2. How the Staked Plains Got Their Name

3. The Ride of “Portugee” John Phillips

4. The Texan Who Invaded New Mexico

5. How Cowboys Came to Sing

6. A Trail Drive Honeymoon

7. When Billy Carried the News

8. When Women Were Scarce

Part II: Buried Treasure Legends

Some Words About Treasure Legends

9. The Tres Piedras Treasure

10. Treasure Tales from the Dakotas

11. The Virginia Dale Legend

12. Did Henry Starr Leave a Buried Treasure?

13. The Stage Station Treasure

14. The Sheepherder’s Treasure

15. Legend of “The Cave”

16. The Lost Treasure of the Missouri Traders

Part III: The Lawless, Lawmen, and Justice

17. Civilizing No-Man’s-Land

18. The Prizefight Texas Didn’t Want

19. Who Murdered Bell Starr?

20. Who Was Seth Bullock?

21. The Law and Cattle Town Gamblers

22. When Cowboys Went on Strike

Part IV: Buffalo, Horses, and Other Creatures

23. The Cat that Crossed the Plains

24. Marsh Johnson’s First Buffalo Hunt

25. The White Stallion of the Plains

26. Wild Buffalo and Other Critters

27. Tales of Legless Critters

28. The Missing White Buffalo

29. Grizzly and Black Bear Tales

Part V: The Famous and the Obsure

30. The Day Chief Old Wolf Nearly Lost His Scalp

31. Two Letters from Abilene

32. Spotted Tail’s Daughter

33. The Nebraska Hoax King

34. Fort Mann’s Woman Soldier

35. The Legend of Rawhide

36. Black Mary

37. Ogallala, a Nebraska Cattle Town

38. “California Joe,” Plainsman and Scout

39. The Badlands Rancher Who Became President

Notes

About the Author

Index

Details
Erscheinungsjahr: 2026
Fachbereich: Regionalgeschichte
Genre: Geschichte, Importe
Rubrik: Geisteswissenschaften
Medium: Taschenbuch
Inhalt: Einband - flex.(Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780700643820
ISBN-10: 0700643826
Sprache: Englisch
Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert
Autor: Dary, David
Hersteller: University Press Of Kansas
Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Libri GmbH, Europaallee 1, D-36244 Bad Hersfeld, gpsr@libri.de
Maße: 229 x 152 x 14 mm
Von/Mit: David Dary
Erscheinungsdatum: 11.08.2026
Gewicht: 0,39 kg
Artikel-ID: 136056310