?...an engrossing tale that encompasses a variety of hostilities across the entire West.?Fred Egloff, BooklistFrom the 1870s until the 1920s cattlemen and sheepmen clashed bitterly for rangeland in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. During five decades of irregular but vicious warfare, scores of attacks were launched by cattlemen, at least twenty-eight sheepmen and sixteen cowboys were killed, and more than 53,000 sheep were shot, clubbed, knifed, poisoned, dynamited and rimrocked. There were 120 raids and skirmishes across the West, including famous events such as the Pleasant Valley War, the murder of Willie Nickell, the Diamondfield Jack trial and the brutal Ten Sleep tragedy, and involving gunfighters Tom Horn and Commodore Perry Owens, cattle baron Charles Goodnight, and other frontier notables. The fifty-year conflict was waged in a magnificent arena of mountains and plains, a classic story of murderous aggression and retribution that forms one of the great dramas of Western history. Bill O?Neal has traveled throughout the West to collect information and background material, and his fast-paced Cattlemen vs. Sheepherders is the first book-length account of this long and bloody war.

An account of murderous aggression and retribution that forms one of the great dramas of Western history.

Winner, 2019 National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Western Heritage Award for the Best Nonfiction Book Winner, 2019 Colorado Book Awards History Category, sponsored by Colorado Center for the Book In The Woolly West, historian Andrew Gulliford describes the sheep industry’s place in the history of Colorado and the American West. Tales of cowboys and cattlemen dominate western history—and even more so in popular culture. But in the competition for grazing lands, the sheep industry was as integral to the history of the American West as any trail drive. With vivid, elegant, and reflective prose, Gulliford explores the origins of sheep grazing in the region, the often-violent conflicts between the sheep and cattle industries, the creation of national forests, and ultimately the segmenting of grazing allotments with the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. Deeper into the twentieth century, Gulliford grapples with the challenges of ecological change and the politics of immigrant labor. And in the present day, as the public lands of the West are increasingly used for recreation, conflicts between hikers and dogs guarding flocks are again putting the sheep industry on the defensive. Between each chapter, Gulliford weaves an account of his personal interaction with what he calls the “sheepscape”—that is, the sheepherders’ landscape itself. Here he visits with Peruvian immigrant herders and Mormon families who have grazed sheep for generations, explores delicately balanced stone cairns assembled by shepherds now long gone, and ponders the meaning of arborglyphs carved into unending aspen forests. The Woolly West is the first book in decades devoted to the sheep industry and breaks new ground in the history of the Colorado Basque, Greek, and Hispano shepherding families whose ranching legacies continue to the present day.

At one time, more than one million sheep roamed the grassy areas of Arizona. Herding sheep was a critical component of the economy, building Arizona from its early territorial days into statehood. Fortunes were made, and, during economic downturns and other disasters, some lost everything. By the 1890s, sheepherding was a major enterprise in Arizona. Today, just over 180,000 sheep live in the state. Where Have All the Sheep Gone? details the untold story of the sheep industry in Arizona starting in the 1500s when the Spanish conquistadors began their push northward from Mexico and brought the first sheep as a food source. Arizona’s sheep industry is a rich history that has never been comprehensively told -- until now. Author Dr. Barbara G. Jaquay presents a lively, informative story through historical documents and personal interviews with the remaining sheep ranchers and family members. Depicting the lives of the early shepherds in Arizona and changes that have occurred over the last thirty years, Where Have All the Sheep Gone? casts a light on this disappearing way of life. It tells the compelling story of the families who worked diligently and proudly through successes and failures -- including droughts, range wars, and economic hard times due to government regulations and a shrinking workforce. Despite many challenges, the sheep industry managed to grow and make huge strides. Some families are still making their living from sheep today, trying to preserve a way of life that may soon be lost. Where Have All the Sheep Gone? tells the story of a vital industry to Arizona and, more importantly, of its people.

The Quincy Valley is a unique place with a distinct environment. In the beginning, not even the local Columbia River tribes could find a use for the sagebrush desert, home to jackrabbits, coyotes, and rattlesnakes, but by 1910, immigrants from more than 20 nations called it home. Today the technology of the 21st century knocks on its door. From the early days of dry-land farming, to the abundant orchards and crops nourished by the Grand Coulee Dam, to the data-server farms of major Internet companies, the Quincy Valley provides food and information to the entire world. It is a community of people whose faith, families, and farms have provided physical sustenance and prosperity to its descendants. Their influence extends far and wide as they have spread across the world, serving in both military and civilian careers.