The Westerners

by Stewart Edward White

Overview

To restore the latter, he should first of all sweep the ground bare of the buildings which nowadorn it, leaving, perhaps, here and there an isolated old shanty of boards far advanced towarddissolution. He would be called upon to substitute, in place of the brick stores and dwellings ofto-day, a motley collection of lean-tos, dug-outs, tents, and shacks, scattered broadcast over thevirgin prairie without the slightest semblance of order. Where the Oriole furniture factory nowstands, he must be prepared to see-and hear-a great drove of horses and oxen feeding onbottom-land grass. And for the latter-day citizens, whose police record is so discouraging to theambitious chief, and so creditable to themselves, he must imagine a multitude moreheterogeneous, perhaps, than could be gathered anywhere else in the world-tenderfeet from theEast; mountaineers from Tennessee and Kentucky, bearing their historic long pea rifles; softvoiced Virginians; keen, alert woodsmen from the North; wiry, silent trappers and scouts fromthe West; and here and there a straight Indian, stalking solemnly toward some one of thenumerous "whiskey joints." The court-house site he would find crowded with canvas wagons,noisy with the shrill calling of women and children. Where Judge Oglethorpe has recentlyerected his stone mansion, Frank Byers would be running a well-patronized saloon. Were he tocomplete the picture by placing himself mentally at the exact period of our story's opening, hewould find the whole town, if such it might be called, seething, turbulent, eager, and-it must beconfessed-ready for trouble.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455412778
Publisher:	B&R Samizdat Express
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	609 KB

About the Author

Stewart Edward White was a keen observer of the beauties of nature and human nature, yet could render them in a plain-spoken style. Based on his own experience, whether writing camping journals or Westerns, he included pithy and fun details about cabin-building, canoeing, logging, gold-hunting, and guns and fishing and hunting. He also interviewed people who had been involved in the fur trade, the California gold rush and other pioneers which provided him with details that give his novels verisimilitude. He salted in humor and sympathy for colorful characters such as canny Indian guides and "greenhorn" campers who carried too much gear.

Stewart Edward White (12 March 1873 - September 18, 1946) was an American writer, novelist, and spiritualist. He was a brother of noted mural painter Gilbert White.

White started out as a Midwesterner, growing up and getting his education in Michigan. But he spent time in Arizona in 1904 and eventually settled in California. Arizona Nights includes a novel-length story by the same name, plus two shorter stories published earlier in magazines. "The Rawhide" appeared in McClure's in 1904, and "The Two-Gun Man" followed in Collier's in 1905.

White had a full career as a writer, and this collection of stories is among his first books, written when he was in his early 30s. He was a popular writer. "The Rawhide" was reprinted at least four other times in the pulps from 1925 to 1949. Meanwhile, several of his titles were made into movies. A silent adaptation of Arizona Nights appeared in 1927 and "The Two-Gun Man" became a Michael Curtiz film, Under a Texas Moon in 1930.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he attended Grand Rapids High School, and earned degrees from University of Michigan (B.A., 1895; M.A., 1903).

From about 1900 until about 1922 he wrote fiction and non-fiction about adventure and travel, with an emphasis on natural history and outdoor living. Starting in 1922 he and his wife Elizabeth "Betty" Grant White wrote numerous books they say were received through channelling with spirits. They also wrote of their travels around the state of California. White died in Hillsborough, California.