The canyon country of southeastern Utah is a land of dramatic contrast, with high mountains, tortuous canyons, towering monuments, hot deserts, and freezing alpine temperatures. Raising and herding cattle in this environment is more than challenging. At times, it is death-defying.
Fin Bayles, a fourth-generation cattleman, learned well what it took to raise livestock in this forbidding terrain. Much was required of people who would prosper in a stingy land. In Cowboying in Canyon Country, with captivating wit and humor shared through prose, oral history, and poetry, Fin provides a window into the daily challenges facing such people. His life in the rural Four Corners region was filled with trials and adventure--a kaleidoscope of colorful personalities plying their trades; raising horses, mules, and hinnies; and caring for cattle and cowboys on the range. Saddle up with Fin for an unforgettable ride through yesteryear! About the Author Robert S. McPherson is Full Professor of History at Utah State University, Blanding Campus. He has published extensively about the Four Corners area, especially its history and cultures, specializing in southeastern Utah and its Native American populations. His other works concerning this region and its people include Fighting in Canyon Country: Native American Conflict, 500 AD to the 1920s (Dog Ear Publishing); Comb Ridge and Its People: The Ethnohistory of a Rock (Utah State University Press); and Life in a Corner: Cultural Episodes in Southeastern Utah, 1880-1950 as well as Mapping the Four Corners: Narrating the Hayden Survey of 1875 (both by University of Oklahoma Press).