The cover of this paperback, published by Popular Library in 1952, makes it look like a novel, but it’s not. It’s a collection of ten stories that first appeared in the slick magazine COLLIER’S between 1939 and 1948. After writing prolifically for the pulps for a decade, by the mid-Thirties Ernest Haycox had “graduated” to the slicks, and COLLIER’S was his primary market for the rest of his life.
“Rawhide Range”, originally published as “The Quarrel” (October 1, 1941), is about a casual insult between two ranchers, in town for a dance and celebration, that turns into a deadly shootout. (The editors at Popular Library changed the title on this one, as they did on several others.)
In “End of the Trail”, originally published as “A Young Man’s Fancy” (July 18, 1942), two cowboys are riding south for the winter when they come to a small settlement and one of them has a dangerous idea about how to make some extra money.
“On Bakeoven Grade”, from the July 17, 1948 issue of COLLIER’S, is a domestic drama set at a small, isolated ranch that also serves as a stagecoach way station.
“Dark Land Waiting” (July 27, 1940) is about a young widow with a small child trying to make a life for the two of them on a homestead on the Great Plains.
“Prairie Town”, originally published as “Faithfully, Judith” (April 11, 1942), is a direct sequel to “Dark Land Waiting” even though it was published nearly two years later. This one is about the arrival of the new schoolteacher in the settlement founded in the previous story.
“Snow in the Canyon” (January 17, 1948) is a wagon train story in which a group of immigrants tries to make it through a dangerous canyon before they’re trapped there by a sudden snowfall.
The protagonist of “The Long Years” (July 15, 1939) is the wife of a cavalry officer who has to deal with the emotional hardships of a life spent in frontier forts.
“Skirmish at Dry Fork” (July 25, 1942) is another cavalry story, this time about a clash between troopers and cowboys in a small settlement next to a fort.
“Martinet” (October 11, 1941) is my favorite story in this collection. A hard-as-nails, by-the-book cavalry officer returns to active duty at the fort where his former lover is married to another officer. This one’s got enough action and romance to have made a fine film in the 1940s.
The collection wraps up with “From the Tuality” (November 6, 1943). I admit, I didn’t know what the Tuality is and never came across it in my years of reading Westerns. Turns out it’s an area in Oregon, and that’s where the protagonist in the story comes from. He’s a farmer, bringing a load of apples to frontier Portland to sell, and he encounters danger and surprises there.
Several of these stories are hardly the action-packed Western yarns you’d expect from the cover, but they’re still enjoyable. It took me a while to warm up to Ernest Haycox’s work, but I’ve become a fan. He was a fine writer, and these are all top-notch stories with well-drawn characters. Haycox was never a great action writer, but he could really turn up the heat on his characters. As a sampler of Haycox’s best work in the short story format, you can’t beat RAWHIDE RANGE.
“Rawhide Range”, originally published as “The Quarrel” (October 1, 1941), is about a casual insult between two ranchers, in town for a dance and celebration, that turns into a deadly shootout. (The editors at Popular Library changed the title on this one, as they did on several others.)
In “End of the Trail”, originally published as “A Young Man’s Fancy” (July 18, 1942), two cowboys are riding south for the winter when they come to a small settlement and one of them has a dangerous idea about how to make some extra money.
“On Bakeoven Grade”, from the July 17, 1948 issue of COLLIER’S, is a domestic drama set at a small, isolated ranch that also serves as a stagecoach way station.
“Dark Land Waiting” (July 27, 1940) is about a young widow with a small child trying to make a life for the two of them on a homestead on the Great Plains.
“Prairie Town”, originally published as “Faithfully, Judith” (April 11, 1942), is a direct sequel to “Dark Land Waiting” even though it was published nearly two years later. This one is about the arrival of the new schoolteacher in the settlement founded in the previous story.
“Snow in the Canyon” (January 17, 1948) is a wagon train story in which a group of immigrants tries to make it through a dangerous canyon before they’re trapped there by a sudden snowfall.
The protagonist of “The Long Years” (July 15, 1939) is the wife of a cavalry officer who has to deal with the emotional hardships of a life spent in frontier forts.
“Skirmish at Dry Fork” (July 25, 1942) is another cavalry story, this time about a clash between troopers and cowboys in a small settlement next to a fort.
“Martinet” (October 11, 1941) is my favorite story in this collection. A hard-as-nails, by-the-book cavalry officer returns to active duty at the fort where his former lover is married to another officer. This one’s got enough action and romance to have made a fine film in the 1940s.
The collection wraps up with “From the Tuality” (November 6, 1943). I admit, I didn’t know what the Tuality is and never came across it in my years of reading Westerns. Turns out it’s an area in Oregon, and that’s where the protagonist in the story comes from. He’s a farmer, bringing a load of apples to frontier Portland to sell, and he encounters danger and surprises there.
Several of these stories are hardly the action-packed Western yarns you’d expect from the cover, but they’re still enjoyable. It took me a while to warm up to Ernest Haycox’s work, but I’ve become a fan. He was a fine writer, and these are all top-notch stories with well-drawn characters. Haycox was never a great action writer, but he could really turn up the heat on his characters. As a sampler of Haycox’s best work in the short story format, you can’t beat RAWHIDE RANGE.
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