Customer Reviews

The Arbuckle Cafe: Classic Cowboy Stories

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Written by a genuine turn-of-the-century cowpuncher, The Arbuckle Cafe: Classic Cowboy Stories offers modern readers an informative and entertaining window in time to the great roundups, trail drives, humor and hardships of handling cattle in the American west of yesteryear. Also included are pioneer anecdotes of northwest Colorado told with all the drama of tales around a campfire. The stories include: Dogies, Dust, and the Drink; Hired Killers and Winter Underwear; The Great Elk Migration; The Hermit of Yampa Canyon, Riding with Butch Cassidy; Buzzards Don't Talk; The Wild Horse Man; Dirty Cattle Thieves; Tom Horn; Queen Ann Bassett, and more. Of special note is the epilogue: The Demise of the Two-Bar Rooster. The Arbuckle Cafe is highly recommended reading for students of western lore and literature, and anyone who has ever day dreamed of what it would have really been like to punch cows on one of the last frontiers of the American west.

Here's a book with atmosphere. You can almost smell the campfire and the Arbuckles' Coffee brewing over it, right alongside the scent of horses, cattle, and sage. "The Arbuckle Cafe: Classic Cowboy Stories" creates its own setting and Val FitzPatrick's style is such that you almost hear the cowboys swapping the yarns around the fire. However, there's far more truth to the tales than the title suggests. Although FitzPatrick, a Colorado native born in 1886, missed trailing the big herds, he began cowboying at age 13 for the K Diamond Cattle Company. At age 14 he began working for the Two-Bar Cattle Company, which was "the goal of nearly every young man in the area." Cowboying left its mark: FitzPatrick learned to appreciate a good tale and how to tell it.

I've read some of the stories in this book 4 or 5 times. It's simply as authentic and well-written as it gets. I'm not an old-West fan at all, but a friend let me borrow their copy and now I'm hooked. I'm on my way to Colorado to visit some of the places FitzPatrick writes about. This book is a real treat! And it's beautifully done also - wonderful cover!

I also just finished FitzPatrick's other book, "Red Twilight." It's about his experiences with the Ute Indians. Also high quality and well-written - highly recommend.

One of the best books ever. Great writing, authentic, entertaining. You won't want to put it down.

I also recommend "The Ozark Clan of Elkhead Creek" - about growing up on a ranch and VERY good.

With the dawning of the "new millenium" upon us many people think of the "wild west" as ancient history. This jewel of a book, by Val FitzPatrick, allows us to reflect upon just how rapidly we have become gored and dependant upon our stampeding, technology driven society. Mr.Fitzpatrick, who died in 1988 vividly recounts stories from his youth when none other than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid slid their boots under his mother's kitchen table for a quick meal on their trip down the old outlaw trail. These stories, while regional in scope of subject, are a veritible history lesson of how rural life through out the west was in the days before, airplanes, cars, paved roads or even telephones. Told in a down to earth manner, neither glamorizing or romanticizing the "good old days" he vividly paints a picture showing the good and the bad, as well as the joy and hardships of those times of his early years. You can almost feel the warmth of the tin cup in your hands and smell the wet sage as you savor the flavor of these exquisitly told tales.

This book is about real cowpunchers, but is good reading for anyone! I have trouble deciding which story is my favorite ("Rattlesnake Four-in-Hand" is one of the funniest stories I've ever read, and "A Deal with the Infinite" is one of the most powerful). Val FitzPatrick has a wonderful writing style. I recommend this book for anyone who wants good writing, a beautiful cover (done by Ron Riddick, Cowboy Artist Hall of Fame), and genuine good reading. I'm starting my second pass on it!

This is a book you'll want to keep! Buy an extra for a friend. It's supurb!!!

If I were the publisher of this book, I would give every one a double-your-money-back-guarantee, because I would know without a doubt that I'd never get one taker! This book is the real stuff, and Mr. Fitzpatrick is an excellent writer - I LOVE this book!