Berthoud Community Library District

Text and photographs trace the history and lore of cowboys around the globe

He was called Nevada, a name he took to lose his past. As a boy he had been thrown among brutal and evil men. He had worked himself above their influence time and again, only to be thrown back, by his own desire for justice or vengeance, into the midst of strife. With a new identity he made a new reputation, but old troubles and old enemies haunted him wherever he went. Nevada was the quiet type who would rather work hard and plan for better days....

New Englander Wayne Cameron longed for the wide open spaces. He heard of the daring feat proposed by Western Union to join the two oceans by telegraph wire. He siezed the chance to work for them and to explore the Wild West. Soon the savagery of the Indians, the raging torrents and devastating prairie fires, the stampeding beasts and the bloody fueds betweent the ranchers and the settlers almost sent him packing.

The Virginian is the quiet, noble foreman of a Wyoming cattle ranch in the 1870s. More comfortable keeping company with his trusted horse than with other people, he nevertheless falls for pretty schoolteacher Molly Wood, who helps him develop an appreciation for Shakespeare, Keats, and the finer things. But when a rival suitor challenges his honor, the Virginian struggles to make his beloved Molly understand the harsh justice of the West.

American cowboy, Stirling Haselton, taking the blame for a shooting committed by a friend, is exiled to Australia and with one loyal follower, joins a party of ranchers and drovers making the long wilderness journey to the Elaberleys. Along the way come dust storms, drought and numerous other adventures.

"Prohibition is the new law of the land, but murder, mayhem, lust, and greed are already institutions in the Moonshine Capitol of Texas. Thatcher Hutton, a war-weary soldier on the way back to his cowboy life, jumps from a moving freight train to avoid trouble . . . and lands in more than he bargained for. On the day he arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher, the only stranger in town, is suspected of her abduction, and worse....

He was strong, charming and set in his ways. She was shy, unassuming and achingly innocent. Together, next-door neighbors Jordan Powell and Libby Collins were like oil and water. Yet when Jordan made it his personal crusade to help Libby hold on to her beloved homestead, everyone in Jacobsville knew it was just a matter of time before wedding bells chimed for these sparring partners. And if truth be told, the taciturn rancher wouldn't deny the exquisite...

Brazos Keene is a cowboy with an honorable streak. When he stumbles into an unjust situation he just can't walk away. A man has been killed and the dead man's twin sisters are being forced off their ranch. Brazos decides to help them find the killers and get their ranch back.

After a tragic riding accident, young cowboy Brady, once a rising star of the rodeo circuit, is warned that his competition days are over. Back home, Brady finds himself wondering what he has to live for when he can no longer do what gives him a sense of purpose: to ride and compete. In an attempt to regain control of his fate, Brady undertakes a search for a new identity and tries to redefine his idea of what it means to be a man in the heartland...

Wolf Patterson and Sara Brandon are arch enemies from ages ago, but mischievous fate has brought the tall rancher with the pale blue eyes together with the dark-haired beauty-on nearby Wyoming and Texas ranches. At first, sparks fly, but despite Wolf's misguided notions about the spirited Sara and her indignance over the assorted injustices he has thrown her way, a truce-of sorts forms. Suddenly Sara notices Wolf's face, while not conventionally handsome,...