<p class="book_description"><i>Bronc Busters and Hay Sloops</i> tells the story of ranching in the West from the beginning of the Great War until 1960. Cowboy soldiers, bronc busters, First Nations, upper-crust Englishmen and the strong, capable women of ranching country . . . theirs are the stories told in this book. Some of these characters are larger than life, such as:</p> <ul><li>Joe Coutlee, cow boss of the Douglas Lake Ranch, whose booming voice gave him the nickname "Roaring Bill"; </li> <li>Grover Hance, who roped one of his men and tied him to a tree until he sobered up; </li> <li>Florence "Bunch" Trudeau, whose pet moose got a little too big for comfort; </li> <li>Ollie Matheson, one of the only women to ride in the Williams Lake Stampede's death-defying Mountain Race; </li><li>Anne Paxton, who tended cattle, guided big-game hunters, ran pack horses and a ranch; </li><li>Bill Arnold, who could ride "anything that wore hide." </li> </ul><p class="book_description">Ken takes readers inside sprawling ranches, which were self-contained communities in themselves, and small family-run homesteads scratched out of the wilderness. Like his first book on ranching history, <i>Buckaroos and Mudpups</i>, this is an engaging look at fascinating times and the people who made them so.</p>