Stories of the American West, Volume 1

This book has taken more than 70 years to be told. The first part includes three western short stories by Rich Roy Thomson (RRT), written before his death in 1950, and previously unpublished. Two of them are cowboy stories, the first is called "The Lost Boy Lode" about two teens who are out hunting near the mining camp of Aspen, Colorado in the 1890s and stumble across some quartz rock that looks like gold. But trouble ensues, when they share that information with co-workers and family. The next story "The Spoiling of Plateau Sal" concerns a young Colorado cowboy, set in the early 1900s, riding across country to a job, grabs a meal at a isolated ranch along the way, and is asked to ride a horse, which has never been ridden before. The final short story takes place outside of Meeker Colorado, where a young man has a small outfit engaged in catching and breaking wild horses, is visited by an older stranger, who overstays his welcome.

. Also included in the book is a detailed non-fiction article by Rich, entitled "The Last Roundup" which details how Rich and his family, including spouse Pearl "Tommy" Thomson, and sons James and Robert, were pioneers in providing large-scale Wilderness Trail Rides in western Colorado during the 1930s and 1940s. Also included is some supplementary information from Robert W. Thomson from the 1960's in his continuation of the Hunting Camp part of the family business. The last story of the book is "The Last Thomson Hunting Camp" written by Daniel Parliman, in 2022/2023 and details his experiences and impressions as a participant in the 1972 hunting camp by his great uncle, Robert W. Thomson and related family stories of previous hunting camps of the 50s, 60s by various family members and others who participated in those events.

Author: Daniel K. Parliman, Rich Roy Thomson
Publisher: Grizzly Creek Publishing
Published: 01/24/2023
Pages: 162
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.54lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.37d
ISBN: 9798218124182

About the Author
Parliman, Daniel K.: - Daniel Kenneth Parliman, born in the mid 1950's, grew up in Woodbine, NJ, next door to contributor Robert W. Thomson and Daniel's Aunt Jean, growing up to the stories of the Colorado hunting camps. In 1972, at age 16, he moved to Colorado, and participated in that last Thomson hunting camp. In later years, Daniel would first attend Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction in 1974-75, then to Colorado State University (BA 1978 History), and (MBA 1982), retiring from NCR Corp in 2012 after an almost 30 year career in sales, marketing, and software product management.Thomson, Rich Roy: - Rich Roy Thomson (1881-1950) was born in Missouri, but moved with his family in the early 1890s to the frontier mining town of Aspen, Colorado where he developed a reputation as a top cowboy, and involved in breaking horses, prospecting, was a renowned rodeo star in the region, guide, and joined the US Forest Service in 1907. Rich worked for approximately 20 years for the Federal government, first for the Forest Service in its formative years, later for the U.S. Grazing Service, mostly based in Colorado. After retiring, he founded a horse and guiding business, guiding hunters and trail-riders, involving the whole Thomson family. He died in 1950, shortly after tragically losing his sight.Thomson, Robert W.: - Robert Wilfred Thomson, (1920-1973) (RWT) grew up in his father's horse and guiding business, attended Mesa College (on Basketball team), then Colorado College (now Colorado State University) and left college some months after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pear Harbor, joining the US Navy. RWT, was a junior officer in the Navy, and was on the USS Block Island, a small aircraft carrier when it was sunk by Nazi U-boats on May 31, 1944, the only US carrier sunk in the Atlantic theater of the war. He (and most of crew) survived, and stayed in the Navy as a reserve officer until late 1950s. Even during his active duty years, he would use his 30 day annual vacation to continue running hunting camps in Colorado. In the early 1960s, he and his wife founded the Colorado Café, a restaurant and sporting goods store in Woodbine, NJ, and all through the 1960s continued his Colorado hunting camp business, moving back to Colorado around 1969 (and a new restaurant in Glenwood Springs CO), culminating in that last hunt in the fall of 1972. RWT passed away in 1973.

This title is not returnable