International prize-winning author CHARLES T. WHIPPLE, writing as
CHUCK TYRELL (a Sundown Press author like me) is another writer who can’t
pick a clear favourite of his novels!
One contender is RETURN TO SILVER
CREEK about a young married couple pioneering in Arizona. Laura and Garet
Havelock are building their dream horse ranch on Silver Creek. But while Garet
is away, Laura is raped, abused, and disfigured by a demonic attacker. Garet
returns to find her gone. He sets off after her, and her assailant. Along the way
the Havelocks’ find themselves involved in the conflict between cattlemen
and sheepmen, between old settlers and new, and between those who have water
and those who want it.
In the real west, clashes between
sheepmen and cattlemen between 1870 and 1909 resulted in approximately 120
engagements, most notably in Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. At least 54
men were killed and some 50,000 to over 100,000 sheep slaughtered. The
ostensible cause was disputes over grazing rights, but racism also played a
part in that many sheep herders were Mexican, Basque or Native American.
Amongst the most serious disputes was the Routt County Sheep War in
Wyoming in the 1890s.
A Navajo shepherdess c. 1905
In central Arizona sheep herders and
cattleman clashed in the Pleasant Valley War, the most costly range war in
American history. It was fought between the families of John D.
Tewksbury and Tom Graham. Though both families were cattle ranchers, the former
supported sheepherders when they began entering Pleasant Valley. Between 1885
and 1892 about twenty-five people were killed, including all of the men in the
Graham family and most of the Blevins and the Tewksbury families.
Artists impression of an attack on a sheep camp Colorado 1877
According to Robert Elman, author of ‘Badmen
of the West’ the sheep wars ended because of the decline of open rangeland
and changes in ranching practices, which removed the causes for hostilities.
SILVER CREEK is marked by its authenticity
(Chuck is an Arizona native) and its prominent women characters (which made me
think of ‘HOMBRE’ a classic western movie set in Arizona with a strong female
lead, played by Diane Cilento.)
Paul Newman and Diane Cilento in
‘Hombre’
The clash between cattlemen and
sheepmen has often been touched upon in westerns, for example in the semi-comic
movie THE SHEEPMAN (1958)
Glenn Ford in ‘The Sheepman’
and in THE VIRGINIAN: MEN FROM SHILOH episode ‘Last of the Comancheros.’
Ricardo Montalban in ‘Last of the
Comancheros’
Arizona settlers and ranchers
clashing over water rights was the subject of ‘THE MARAUDERS’ an unusually dark
and (for its time) brutal movie of 1955.
‘Chuck
Tyrell is a great western writer. He knows the country, and he lets the reader
see the vistas, smell the wood smoke, hear the creak of leather, and feel the
grit of sand in the beans. … made me homesick for the high desert.’
‘If you like a good adventure. If you like westerns. If you like strong, flawed heroes. If you like writing where the setting is like another character, then you'll like Chuck Tyrell's Return to Silver Creek.’
‘A fine story-teller doing what
he does best… Not
just a "good" reading experience, it's a revelation. …Tyrell is
particularly good with women in his western tales, and Laura is one of his
finest creations.’
‘Picturesque
landscape and characters come alive through the adept story telling. A must
read for any western literature buff, and a great story for those who think
they would like to try a western.’
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