By Patrick Dearen

An 1886 newspaper termed the Pecos River of Texas and southern New Mexico “the cowboy’s paradise”. One cowhand even reckoned “the Pecos boys were the most expert cowboys in the world”. On the Pecos they had to be, for in frontier times it was a river so treacherous it was known as the “graveyard of the cowman’s hopes”.

A Cowboy of the Pecos is a vivid accounting that skillfully captures the essence of those men who, unlike any other breed of cowhand, rode hell-bent-for-leather across the Pecos. It tells the full story of the Pecos cowboy from the time of the first Goodnight-Loving trail drive to the 1920’s when cattle trucks and pickups snatched away the last hope for the cowboy’s characteristic and spirited way of life. Documented and supported by vintage photographs, this book will carry readers on a rip-roaring romp through the Old West.