BLACK RANGE TALES, CHRONICLING SIXTY YEARS OF LIFE AND ADVENTURE IN THE SOUTHWEST

New York: Wilson-Erickson, Inc., 1936., 1936.. First edition. First Edition. Cloth. 300pp. Illustrated with numerous woodcut-plates by Howard Simon. A great personal account of life in southwestern New Mexico. Of equal interest, is that this book came from the library of Fred Barton. With the exception of a few years in a New Jersey military school, Fred grew up ranching in Montana, where he established the Y-Bar Ranch in Miles City, Montana. In 1911, at the age of 24, he was hired by the Russian army, eventually establishing a horse ranch in the remote interior regions of China. Working with the U.S. Army to procure the American horses that he needed, he cross bred American Morgan horse with the large Russian Orlov horse to develop a breed to then be bred with the Mongol ponies from nearby Mongolia. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Barton left China and returned to the United States. This book has one 4.875"x7.375" photograph of Fred neatly affixed to the front pastedown, which shows what appears to be a full-length, oil-painting portrait of Fred, in his cowboy attire, labeled as Miles City, Montana 1906. Neatly affixed to the rear pastedown are 2 more photographs of Fred, both on horseback, one 5.5"x4.125" taken in a corral, the other 4"x3.25" in a grassy field. Fred signed both pastedowns and referenced the Y-Bar Ranch Miles City, Montana. Fred was a cowboy of very unique experience! A few small spots, else a clean, tight very good copy.