This book brings to life the real West—true stories of ranch living in good times and bad over nine decades. This collection of photographs, essays, and story poems of Eastern Colorado will bring some laughter, some tears, but always a clearer understanding of early Western life.

"Jane Morton's clear and candid chronicle of her family's ranching roots embodies the history of America's westward expansion, exploring the hardships, hard-taught lessons, and hard-earned rewards of settlement.

"With her sure guidance, hearts and souls are acutely revealed in these sensitive but unsentimental poems and stories."

—Margo Metegrano

"This book will take you back in verse to cowboy days and ways. It is the story of a Colorado ranch family who toughed it out despite drought, fire, blizzards, and mercurial beef prices."

—Tom Noel

2004

2005

2005

2005

"When my grandfather died in 1958, my father became the rancher, and I the rancher's daughter. At the time I don't think I realized how the ranch affected my outlook and my life. It was so much a part of our lives that we believed it would go on forever. As it turned out, it didn't.

"Some of my ranch memories are bittersweet. I am aware of the sacrifices that went into making it what it became and of lives changed because of it. The ranch history and the family history are intertwined. These stories have been inside me for a long time, and finally they came out as poems. Someone asked me how long it took me to write a poem. I thought a moment, and then I knew. All my life."

—Jane Morton