THE RANGE MEN

Journalist Leroy Victor Kelly's The Range Men chronicles the early days of ranching in southwestern Alberta, from the arrival of the first large herds in 1876 through to 1913, when the book was first published. Kelly gathered material from the records of the North West Mounted Police, William Pearce's government reports, the Calgary Herald the Macleod Gazette and other publications, and collected anecdotes from old-time stockmen such as George Lane and John Ware.

A window into the period after the buffalo but before extensive settlement, The Range Men paints a vivid, engrossing and sometimes unflattering picture of colonial life and attitudes. The struggling ranchers of the vanguard were learning everything as they went, from how to breed stock to how to get their herds through the winter.