Forty Years' Gatherin's ; Spike Van Cleve

A ranch hands worldly possessions often boiled down to his horse gear, a bedroll, and a warbag with a change or two of clothesprized items he might call his forty years gatherins. This book holds Spike Van Cleves own gatherins: treasured memories of a rugged, honest life in the fresh air and mountainous rangeland near Big Timber, Montana. Born, raised, and laid to rest in the land he called the prettiest country God ever made heaven cant be any better than this, Spike ran the Van Cleve ranch20,000 acres under the Crazy Mountainsjust as his father and grandfather had before him. A natural storyteller educated at Harvard but schooled in life on the Montana range, Spike filled these pages with true tales of the land, the people, the horses, and the good old days. In one moving story, Cody and Terry, the sharp report of Spikes rifle marks the merciful end of a cowboys bond with his beloved work horsesa tender, poetic moment that earned him a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

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