The Montana Cowboy An Anthology of Western Life

The Montana Cowboybrings together true stories of real cowboys and cowgirls from across the Treasure State. Cowboys who have chased wild horses in the Missouri River badlands, ridden through freezing blizzards, and followed the roundup wagons while branding calves in the spring and gathering in the fall. Many of these stories come from early day settlers and exhibit the fortitude and toughness needed to survive when Montana was little more than a land of wolf tracks and unfenced grass. Others relate more modern experiences, some dangerous, others unpredictable, as so often happens when working with livestock. Through them all, a thread of humor and respect for fellow man runs like an invisible strand, just as the cowboy's heart is never far from a jest or a practical joke.

Wanda Rosseland has published articles in Bow & Arrow Hunting, Montana Magazine, the Furrow, and Guideposts, and has worked as a rural correspondent for the Billings Gazette, the largest daily newspaper in Montana. Previously wrote a biweekly column on farm life for the Montana Farmer-Stockman. Born in Glendive, Montana, she lived in Circle until her family moved to her grandfather’s ranch west of Jordan. The daughter of a cowboy and a cowgirl, there she first rode and helped take care of cattle. She lives in Circle, Montana, where she and her husband farm, run sheep, raise cattle, and build dams and dikes for farmers and ranchers when not raising their three children.