Much of early Americana has been destroyed and lost forever. But occasionally, and almost miraculously, some parts of its survive. So it is with the photographs in this book. Saved from an ignominious end in the city dump, they chronicle and enliven the cowboy's life on the range. The result is a beautiful volume of real-life images of western cattlemen. These unretouched photographs taken from the original 5" x 7" negatives give an unprecedented look at life on the ranch and trail. We are presented with real people seen on the job. We see the costumes, the work, the everyday necessities of the range. And as the cowboys stare back at the camera or work with one another, the reader will get the sense of knowing them and their way of living. This is an important volume of history that every student of the Old West will cherish.

In the frontier of Colorado in 1903, Frank Sherman had a photography studio and souvenir shop in Colorado Springs. he decided that he needed more postcards to sell to the tourists, so he visited his brothers who worked at the Holt Livestock Co., in Hugo, Colorado. He packed up his gear and went to photograph the cattle roundup. His timing was fortuitous. Just before the roundup was to start, word came that President Theodore Roosevelt would be stopping in Hugo on his western trip. Frank Sherman got the pictures. Those pictures and other wonderful images of the Old West are presented here for the first time. Having saved them from destruction, John Eggen has made it his avocation to preserve them and share them with a fascinated public. An earlier volume. "The West that Was," met with popular and critical acclaim. This new work brings even more of the cowboy's day-to-day existence to life.