Getting Even - The Cowboy Way
We’ve all seen yellowstone
Watching Yellowstone may have given you some ideas on ranching, while our loyalty and love for the land runs deep, the revenge we take on those who cross us, isn’t quite how they portray it. In fact, I recently read a book, a true recollection of ranching in the mid 1900’s on the land that surrounds me, and I wanted to share how the author has perfectly summed up true cowboy revenge.
The Lady Rancher - by Gertrude Minor Roger
“...watching the kids playing some game that ended in a quarrel with one of them promising to get even with the other, Pop’s memory trailed back again.
“I was going to get even with a fellow once,” he said, “a long time ago. It was when Mama, your grandmother, and I were going to get married. We started off to Maple Creek with a team and wagon. When we got across the Sandhills and into the farming country it was storming real bad. Mama was cold and the horses were played out. It was almost dark so we stopped at a farm and asked if we could spend the night. Well, they said we could but I had to sleep in the barn and they gave Mama a place in the house. The next morning I asked the man how much we owed him and he said $10, so I paid him but I vowed I’d get even with him some day if it took me the rest of my life.
“Many years later, this same man, caught in another storm, pulled into this yard and asked if he could spend the night here. ‘You bet,’ I said. So we helped him unharness his team and fed and watered them. We invited him in for supper and we gave him the best bed in the house to sleep in. Next morning we fed him a big breakfast and when he was ready to leave, Mama passed him a lunch to take with him. ‘How much do I owe you Mr. Minor?’ he asked?”
“‘Not a thing, neighbor,’ I said. ‘Not a thing.’ Yes sir, I finally got even,” Pop mused.
The Lady Rancher by Gertrude Minor Roger, while not currently being printed, is easily found for sale online and the local Saskatchewan library system has THIRTY SEVEN copies to borrow.
The author spends the first half of the book telling the tale of her introduction to ranching in the mid 1900’s in the Sandhills of Saskatchewan. Too many times I was nodding my head in solidarity. These things still happen to this day; ranchers are still feeding crews, tending cattle, pulling calves on the range, mistreating our trucks, and even checking windmills by plane. The second half of the book relates to the Minor family’s move across western Canada to the Chilcotin. Since I have never ranched in the mountains, I was less attached to this part of the book, but perhaps that’s the part that will have you nodding and smiling. It’s an easy, quick read and I recommend it to all the Lady Ranchers.
**a note** I first read this book 10 years ago and recall a distaste for it. As time passes I like to revisit things I initially found distaste for, to examine my feelings and thoughts around the subject. I don’t know what changed in 10 years, but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the book the second go round.