Home Ranch

by Will James

Book Overview

A breath from the range! Without pulling a single six-gun, fanning a trigger, or using any other stock device of Western fiction, Will James tells the story of life on the Seven X Ranch during the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0878424067
• ISBN13: 9780878424061
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Flash Back

Will James lived the life and his writings reveal it. I read "Home Ranch" over and over again when I was young, wore the old paperback copy out and repurchased it some time ago for sentimental reasons - it's something to keep on the book case shelf as a reminder of what it was if you happen to come from ranch stock yourself. The story moves through most of a century of the life of a reformed desperado, John B. Mitchell, who left Texas with a herd of stolen long horn cattle (hence the term "long rope") that became the basis for his own foundation herd after he made it out of Texas alive. The best part of the book for me then, and still is, occurs on or around page 18 - and is a stunningly beautiful flashback of his life - as Old John B. accidentially finds a yellowed, hand written ledger and note book in some of his papers while he was looking for something else - tangible reminders of his youth and vigor, of ambition untempered with the complete honesty he now demands of others in his employ. "The handwriting was his" Will James wrote, taking you back to the day itself as the herd drifted by, counted and logged - and the old rancher is immediately lost in the past, riding trails of 50 + years ago on horses long dead, horses that helped him win the still most important thing in his existence - his ranch and land that he is currently raising a different type of family on - in a life much different and more settled than from he himself came from. The rest of the book tells of his current life, of his family, his beloved son who is heir apparent to the ranch, although of a much different, more progressive mindset than his father when it comes down to a generation changed - one who is accepting new ideas, new concepts to the upgrading of the livestock, of the bringing in of new blood to infuse with that of the original herds. Old John B. fusses, but keeps the peace, because above all, the old boy is a businessman as well as a cowboy. He also has a daughter, June - the light of his life, whom he is determined to "educate" at the best eastern schools so she won't fall victim to an "uneddicated cowboy" herself. Of course, the girl sees it differently, loves her ranch life and wants to live it herself, as an adult, with another adult - a cowboy - and not as the product of her father and mother's dream for her. Will James - here's a lift of the glass to him - and to the life I too left behind.

A terrific novel by an outstanding writer!

When John B. Mitchell left Texas in a hurry with an "appropriated" herd of cattle, he headed north to create a ranch of his own. Fifty years later he owned the Seven X Ranch, a spread that was some sixty miles long and more than forty miles wide. The late Will James vividly recounts the story of life on the Seven X in this engaging western novel first published in 1935 -- a life of hard work, tough humor, and longtime friendship. The reader will join John Mitchell, his family and cowhands on the home ranch as they round up long horns, ride circle on the herd, and try in vain to keep tenderfeet from the city out of trouble.