Our Favorite Local History Books

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times).

This is an amazing account of life in the epicenter of a disaster that compounded the already ongoing depression in the United States. It’s fascinating and extremely depressing read, but very well written and researched. The dustbowl happened in our backyard and the people who remain in this area live with the repercussions and ongoing threat of it to this day.
– Canyon Journeys

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Jess Nelson was a scout with Kit Carson. He shared the dangers and adventures of the legendary Carson guiding Army troops and wagon trains, fighting Indians, and opening new frontiers. Jesse married Susan Carson, Kit’s niece. Maurine Nelson Bradshaw is their great grand-daughter.

Here is an engrossing account of the first settlers of the great south-west. The territory of Colorado became the habitat of Jesse Nelson and his family. After living for some time in New Mexico, Jesse finally decided on Colorado as the place to bring up his family. He lived at Sun Flower Bottom, near Trinidad, and later at Nine Mile Bottom on the Purgatorie River. The Pioneers called it “Picketwire.” In 1872 the Nine Mile Bottom was renamed Higbee, in honor of the man who was its first postmaster. Mrs. Bradshaw’s research enabled her to tell of the people and events of the little town.

This is a rare and unique look into a now little known part of southern Colorado. What use to be one of the main thorough fares of the west is now a rural and lost part of the world. But these stories tell some of the many stories about the people who lived, explored, and passed through the region during the time of the explorers, Santa Fe Trail, open range ranches, and settlers. Higbee is no more than a name that you pass through driving south on Hwy 109 towards Kim, CO. The history of the area, however, is rich and fascinating and goes far beyond even this book.

-Canyon Journeys

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Charles Goodnight rode bareback from Illinois to Texas when he was nine years old. He was hunting with the Caddo Indians beyond the frontier at thirteen, launched into the cattle business at twenty, guiding Texas Rangers at twenty-four, blazing cattle trails nearly two thousand miles beyond range country in the interest of order. At sixty he was regarded as possibly the greatest scientific breeder of range cattle in the West, and at ninety he was an international authority on the range industry.

This book is a great look at the western history of the cattle trails and the people who shaped them. We love it because of the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail that came right up through our back yard. We also love all of the history of our region in southeast Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the Texas panhandle included in the book.

-Canyon Journeys

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Lost Trails of the Cimarron is Harry Chrisman’s folk history of nineteenth-century Cimarron country – southwestern Kansas, southeastern Colorado, and the neutral strip of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. Buffalo hunters entered the area in violation of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, followed by cowboys and settlers who formed a vast economy based on grass and beef, the beginnings of prominent cattle ranches such as Westmoreland-Hitch Outfit. Chrisman details the history of the outlaws and ruffians of “No Man’s Land” and trail drives to Dodge City and beyond. Numerous illustrations accompany the anecdotes and stories of various frontier personalities.

This book is such a wonderful picture of the cattle history in the region of southeast Colorado, Oklahoma Panhandle, Texas Panhandle and Kansas.

-Canyon Journeys

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A complete history of the Western Cattle Trails from Texas north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. Contains an oversized folded map, not bound in.

This book is a treasure. It discusses the many cattle trails and their various routes through the region. The map that comes along with the book is also valuable for research and/or display. We love it for the description of the 1875 New Goodnight Loving Cattle Trail that moved from over near Folsom to Kenton, OK and came up the Carrizo Creek to Carrizo Springs and north to Freezout Canyon and on to Granada via the Granada Wagon Road.

-Canyon Journeys

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The Jones Brothers (Stephen, Peyton and James) started one of the most notable of the early cattle operations in the region. Establishing a ranch headquarters in the Nine Mile Bottom at Higbee, their enterprise was known as the JJ Ranch. The Jones Brothers had come to the Purgatoire River region from Texas, although their family was originally from Scotland. Their story is told in a vivid local history, The JJ Ranch on the Purgatory River, by Frances Bollacker Keck. The Jones brothers’ JJ Ranch story is illustrative of the practice common to early large cattle operations, in which the ranchers controlled a great deal of the public domain by filing on only those parcels that contained access to water. Founded in 1869, by 1879 the JJ Ranch controlled about 960,000 acres of land, although they only held title to about 18,000.

This book is super valuable to the history of southeast Colorado discussing in depth the first big foreign syndicate ranch in the United States the Prairie Cattle Company which bought the JJ Ranch in 1882. The ranch and its history impact the region of southeast Colorado in so many ways and this book is the best resource for this topic available.

-Canyon Journeys

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A Place Called Baca is a rare and unique volume of local history for Baca County Colorado. The book includes a variety of topics in many historical events in the county. It discusses schools, sheriffs, post offices, old towns, old trails, broom corn, moonshining, the dustbowl, and historic cattle ranches.

This book is invaluable in its first hand accounts from settler families and relatives of the author who wrote the book. He has also done large amounts of research in county history including places, townsites, schools etc. We love it for the map that is included in the book. It has so much information about the county on it that we find it invaluable! This book can be hard to find – so snatch it wherever you come across it.

-Canyon Journeys

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Archaeoastronomy of Southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle includes discussion of potential solar alignments sites in southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle. It is becoming a rare book that was published in the 90’s by researchers studying the sites.

We love it for its discussion and ideas proposed about Crack Cave in Picture Canyon, The Anubis Caves in the Oklahoma Panhandle and the Sun Temple in southeast Colorado. There are several other sites mentioned in the Picketwire Canyon vicinity as well. This book challenges traditional archaeological thought and therefore presents a historically controversial point of view. It’s fascinating!

-Canyon Journeys