“Stories of the American West, Volume 1” by author Daniel Parliman provides the reader with a detailed description of commercial group trail rides and hunting expeditions on Colorado’s Western Slope over a period of many years. The detailed accounts of the group rides and hunting trips are rich with the flavor of the times in which they took place, which gives today’s reader a better understanding of Western Colorado’s past.
As I read through this book, I was reminded of a story told to me by longtime Glenwood Springs resident (and one-time ranch worker) Buzz Busby. Buzz is no longer with us, but I was fortunate enough to hear some of his stories about working on ranches in Northwestern Colorado. My favorite story was one that described his experience riding the range on a particularly cold winter day. His horse stumbled a few times on the trail, and upon inspecting his mount, Buzz realized that it was because his horse’s eyes had frozen shut. Those were challenging times.
“Stories of the American West, Volume 1” doesn’t include that degree of drama, but it does give the reader a detailed picture of everything that was involved in the planning and execution of the commercial trail rides and hunting expeditions that were so popular in Western Colorado during the 1930s and after. The book offers day-to-day descriptions of a number of expeditions, and gives the reader a genuine feel for the times. One such account of a typical trail ride includes the following:
“Following the departure of the trail ride guests, the camp becomes a scene of activity unequaled by anything except the moving day of a tent circus.”
The book mentions a number of expedition planners by name, and some of those family names will be familiar to current residents of the Western Slope.
As an added feature, the author has included two unpublished fictional short stories by Rich Roy Thomson — a very successful rodeo cowboy in the early 1900s. Thomson’s non-fiction account of how he and his family organized successful trail rides during the ‘30s and ‘40s is also included.
All in all, the book captures an important period in Colorado’s transition from “The Old West” to the state that we are familiar with today, and it will be appreciated by all who value an understanding of Colorado history and possess a love of the Western lifestyle, past and present.
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