Owen Wister is remembered today almost solely as the author of The Virginian, yet his short stories, dating from the turn of the century, gave us our first real knowledge of the West's "wide, wild farm and ranch community, spotted with remote towns, and veined with infrequent railroads." And this West was not merely that of the cowboy, but of the soldier, the seeker, the Indians, the hunter, even the priest. This volume presents six of Wister's finest stories, chosen to exhibit the less well remembered facets of his talent. Their settings—ranging from a mining camp in the Rockies to a northwestern territorial capital to a southwestern desert town, and from a California mission to army posts on the high plains—are as varied as the characters and the situations.
The introduction by Robert L. Hough discusses the factors the impelled Wister to write about the West ad his ambivalent feelings about the region, as well as his story-telling techniques and artistic goals.