MCCOY, JOSEPH G. Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, Kansas City, 1874. In 1867, McCoy established at Abilene, Kansas, terminus of the Chisholm Trail, the first market upon which Texas drovers could depend. He went broke and thereupon put his sense, information, and vinegar into the first of all range histories. It is a landmark. Of the several reprinted editions, the one preferred is that edited by Ralph P. Bieber, with an information-packed introduction and many illuminating notes, Glendale, California, 1940. This is Volume VIII in the "Southwest Historical Series," edited by Bieber, and the index to it is included in the general index to the whole series. Available is an edition published by Long's College Book Co., Columbus, Ohio. About the best of original sources on McCoy is Twenty Years of Kansas City's Live Stock and Traders, by Cuthbert Powell, Kansas City, 1893—one of the rarities.
MACKAY, MALCOLM S. Cow Range and Hunting Trail, New York, 1925. Among the best of civilized range books. Fresh observations and something besides ordinary narrative. OP. Illustrations by Russell.
MANDAT-GRANCEY, BARON E. DE. See Conn, William.
MERCER, A. S. Banditti of the Plains, or The Cattlemen's Invasion of Wyoming in 1892, Cheyenne, 1894; reprinted at Chicago in 1923 under title of Powder River Invasion, War on the Rustlers in 1892, "Rewritten by John Mercer Boots." Reprinted 1935, with Foreword by James Mitchell Clarke, by the Grabhorn Press, San Francisco. All editions OP. Bloody troubles between cowmen and nesters in Wyoming, the "Johnson County War." For more literature on the subject, consult the entry under Tom Horn in this chapter.
MILLER, LEWIS B. Saddles and Lariats, Boston, 1912. A fictional chronicle, based almost entirely on facts, of a trail herd that tried to get to California in the fifties. The author was a Texan. OP.
MOKLER, ALFRED JAMES. History of Natrona County, Wyoming, 1888-1922, Chicago, 1923. Contains some good material on the "Johnson County War." This book is listed as an illustration of many county histories of western states containing concrete information on ranching. Other examples of such county histories are S. D. Butcher's Pioneer History of Custer County (Nebraska), Broken Bow, Nebraska, 1901; History of Jack County (Texas), Jacksboro, Texas (about 1935); Historical Sketch of Parker County and Weatherford, Texas, St. Louis, 1877.
MORA, JO. Trail Dust and Saddle Leather, Scribner's, New York, 1946. No better exposition anywhere, and here tellingly illustrated, of reatas, spurs, bits, saddles, and other gear. Californios, Doubleday, Garden City, N. Y., 1949. Profusely illustrated. Largely on vaquero techniques. Jo Mora knew the California vaquero, but did not know the range history of other regions and, therefore, judged as unique what was widespread.
NIMMO, JOSEPH, JR. The Range and Ranch Cattle Traffic in the Western States and Territories, Executive Document No. 267, House of Representatives, 48th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, D. C., 1885. Printed also in one or more other government documents. A statistical record concerning grazing lands, trail driving, railroad shipping of cattle, markets, foreign investments in ranches, etc. This document is the outstanding example of factual material to be found in various government publications, Volume III of the Tenth Census of the United States (1880) being another. The Western Range: Letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, etc (a "letter" 620 pages long), United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1936, lists many government publications both state and national.
NORDYKE, LEWIS. Cattle Empire, Morrow, New York, 1949. History, largely political, of the XIT Ranch. Not so careful in documentation as Haley's XIT Ranch of Texas, and not so detailed on ranch operations, but thoroughly illuminative on the not-heroic side of big businessmen in big land deals. The two histories complement each other.
O'NEIL, JAMES B. They Die But Once, New York, 1935. The biographical narrative of a Tejano who vigorously swings a very big loop; fine illustration of the fact that a man can lie authentically. OP.