Montana Cowboy: An Anthology Of Western Life - Paperback

by Wanda Rosseland (Author)

The Montana Cowboy brings together true stories of real cowboys and cowgirls from across the Treasure State. Cowboys who have chased wild horses in the Missouri River badlands, ridden through freezing blizzards, and followed the roundup wagons while branding calves in the spring and gathering in the fall.

Many of these stories come from early day settlers and exhibit the fortitude and toughness needed to survive when Montana was little more than a land of wolf tracks and unfenced grass. Others relate more modern experiences, some dangerous, others unpredictable, as so often happens when working with livestock. Through them all, a thread of humor and respect for fellow man runs like an invisible strand, just as the cowboy's heart is never far from a jest or a practical joke.

Back Jacket

The Montana Cowboy is a time capsule of sorts--a glimpse into the real lives of more than fifty cowboys and cowgirls who made the West by working its land and shaping its contours, told in their own words and preserving memories of a past that is slipping away. These stories reveal the fortitude and toughness that men and women needed to survive when Montana was little more than a land of wolf tracks and unfenced grass. And they relate the experiences, some dangerous, others merely unpredictable, about riding through freezing blizzards, chasing wild horses in the Missouri River badlands, and following the roundup wagons during branding time. Through all the revelations in The Montana Cowboy, a thread of humor and respect for the land and our fellow man runs like an invisible strand.

Author Biography

The seventh of nine children, Wanda Rosseland was born in Glendive, Montana, and lived in Circle until the fourth grade when her family moved to her grandfather's ranch west of Jordan. The daughter of a cowboy and a cowgirl, there she first rode and helped take care of the cattle on the ranch. The family later moved to Wolf Point where she rode and helped the neighbors with their cows.

After graduating from high school at Wolf Point, she attended the Pacific Coast Equestrian Research Farm in order to learn English jumping. After returning to Montana, she married and with her husband has farmed, run sheep, raised cattle, and owned a dirt moving business building dams and dikes for farmers and ranchers, while raising three children. .

Her writing career began in 1984 with an 800 word, bi-weekly column on farm life for The Montana Farmer-Stockman. She has also been published in Bow & Arrow Hunting, Montana Magazine, the Furrow, and Guideposts, and has worked as a rural correspondent for the Billings Gazette, the largest daily newspaper in Montana.