The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch [Paperback]

David McCumber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000

In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.

In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country—a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men—and women—who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The cowboy as hero, David McCumber reminds us, is one of America's abiding myths. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood--even the ubiquitous Marlboro man--endure as symbols, perhaps because of our need to believe (in a technology-savvy, urbanized culture) that "cleaner country ... something rougher, less despoiled, harder to win" still exists.

At midlife, McCumber abandoned "corporate striving" in California and spent a year learning what it means to be a real cowboy at one of Montana's largest ranches. His unsentimental, gritty, yet evocative account defies and confirms our preconceptions. Cowboying, he quickly learns, has always meant backbreaking, isolating work: mending endless stretches of fence, weeks spent digging ditches, rousting livestock in subzero weather. But ranch life has not been immune to the times: today's cowboys choose four-wheel drive vehicles over horses, regularly deliver calves by cesarean section, and might as easily hold a degree in English as in agriculture.

Ultimately, McCumber reveals that the cowboy is alive and kicking in the West, his ethic defined by a firm belief in the value of hard work and an unshakable respect for the weather and the land. "Cowboys are heroes," he tells us, "but not of the Hollywood variety. Their heroism comes in small portions. John Wayne may have saved the stampeding herd in Red River, but in real life the herd is saved one calf at a time." --Svenja Soldovieri --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Newly divorced, having left his job as assistant managing editor of the San Francisco Examiner, McCumber (Playing Off the Rail) set out to see what life as a cowboy was like. The guest was part of what he calls "a rather thoroughgoing midlife metamorphosis." It is telling that he chooses the word "metamorphosis" rather than "crisis," for McCumber eagerly embraces his new life and spends hardly any energy mourning his old one. He soon found out that the cowboys of a real working ranch are not the stuff of popular culture. For starters, they rarely use horses (they often use what McCumber calls "Japanese quarter horses," a nickname for four-wheel all-terrain vehicles). Death is a constant threat to the herd and to the area's wild animals. Because of that, perhaps, McCumber and the other men of the ranch have a genuine respect for animals. But it's a tough respect, one that inspires McCumber to slit the throat of a doe who has cut an artery on a barbed-wire fence. What McCumber reveals of himself, he does so indirectly, through his descriptions of life on the Birch Creek Ranch, where the seasons are marked by the extremes of weather and the stages of cattle ranching?calving, branding, fencing, etc. Even his brief journal entries, interspersed throughout the book, look outward rather than inward. McCumber can be salty in one sentence, lyrical in the next, whimsical, stoic and, only occasionally, wistful. His book will creep up on readers, who will come away with admiration for McCumber and a strong, vibrant sense of the ranching life he has come to love.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380788411
• ISBN-13: 978-0380788415
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A year without cigarettes in Marlboro country, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch (Hardcover)

If you want to retain the cosy illusion of the cowboy as a gun-toting, chain-smoking, horse-riding champion of open ranges, you will find little of it reinforced in David McCumber's excellent first book. But as he says, I have always been a Westerner, which means I have always thought about being a cowboy. Thinking and doing are different."

McCumber is former assistant managing editor of the San Francisco Examiner and founding editor and publisher of Big Sky Journal, who, at 44, decided to spend a year slaving as a cowboy on a huge cattle ranch in the high mountains of Montana.

It turned out to be a labour of love for this award-winning journalist who at the time was facing a mid-life crisis and gives the reasons for his sabbatical as: "journalistic curiosity about a lifestyle glorified to the point of religion in our culture. It was the final step of letting go, signing on as a gray-headed greenhorn, proposing to make my living out-of-doors, with my body as well as my brain."

His detailed description of the Montana cowboy's unenviable daily grind is thoroughly engrossing. In fact this book would be the perfect manual for the ignorant Dude who fancies working on a ranch: there's everything here from rousting renegade steers to the right way to build and repair fences in a snow-drift halfway up a mountain, learning new mechanical skills in the ranch's machine shop and garage, assisting with veterinary operations, and fighting brush fires.

McCumber's Montana is a harsh world where cowboys from disparate backgrounds bond while working against extremes of weather. Sadly, the cowpoke's four-legged friend - the horse - has been largely replaced by the more cost-effective small all-terrain vehicle (one driven by petrol not grass), occasional sorties in the Boss's helicopter, and Shank's Pony. By the end of the book, I felt as worn out and exhilarated as the author, whose every moment and enthusiasm for hard work I felt I'd shared.

"Many Montanans see their homeland turning from a great place to live and work," he says, "into a virtual theme park full of designer-dressed Westerners who don't understand what it really takes to make a living on the land." Who would blame them for there must be an easier way of making a living than the one vividly described in McCumber's book. After reading it I no longer dream about being a real cowboy but at last I now understand why some people still do.

But a cowboy without the comfort of a cigarette still seems a contradiction in terms.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David McCumber tells it how it is., May 11, 1999

By 

Lindsay A. Richards "lindsay_r" (Southeastern PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch (Hardcover)

David McCumber has provided an highly informative insider's look to Montana ranching in "The Cowboy Way: The Seasons of a Montana Ranch." After I graduated from college in North Carolina, I dropped everything to move to the same area Mr. McCumber moved to. He has done an extraordinary job on gathering the history of Montana and its people. I was amazed to read about the Wertheimers', Rogers', and Mikelsons', my neighbors in Utica. My one complaint would be that he used terms refering to ranching and cattle that many people would not be familiar with if they have never lived around such an operation. Regardless, I would reccommend this book to anyone who longs to go back to a way of life where everyone knows their neighbor, and you spend your days surviving the elements, not your cubical.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent scenery and aching muscles - the cowboy way, March 14, 2002

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch (Paperback)

I love books that help me travel to worlds unknown to me. And, as I live in New York City, ranching is something I know absolutely nothing about. That's why this book by David McCumber, in which he chronicles a year spent as a ranch hand, intrigued me. As he was a 44-year old journalist with no experience ranching, I could easily relate to his trials as tribulations as he learned what it takes to be a cowboy today. He's a straightforward clear writer and he uses his words well to describe even the most mundane tasks that are the daily routines for the people who live and work on ranches.

Basically, it's all about the care and feeding of cows and this includes the baling of hay, an essential job which has its own set of challenges. There's the birthing of the calves and the cleaning of the pens. There's setting up and irrigation system, and fixing miles of fencing. Often the weather is brutal and virtually all the work is outside. There's some horseback riding, of course, but nowadays most of the work is done with various trucks and motorcycles and vans which always need mechanical work, also done by the ranch hands. Mistakes are made often and result in a tongue lashing from the owner who knows everything there is to know about ranching and wants no other way of life.

These are real people that the author meets and he writes about them all with a sense of admiration and I'm glad he also included the history of the White Sulphur Springs area, which he researched as background. The magnificent scenery comes alive, as do his aching muscles. He enjoys it all completely and made it quite real for me. I must admit though, that in spite of his detailed explanations, I didn't understand it all, especially when he described the mechanical aspects of the baling machines or the irrigation system or the fixing of the motor in a truck. However, I had no trouble at all understanding the birthing, branding and castrating process. And I was right there with him as he fixed fences and chased straggling cattle for miles.

I thank Mr. McCumber for writing this book. I learned a lot from it. Now, whenever I hear the word "cowboy", I'll think about the real work that that is his daily grind. I'll think of the harsh and beautiful country. And the simple joy of a job well done. Recommended.