Memories of Old Montana

In Short

This book is a memoir by a working cowboy who spent his life traversing the Montana frontier. Through a series of unvarnished sketches, it recounts the realities of cattle drives, bronco-busting, and the rough-hewn characters of the 1880s and 90s. It is less a formal autobiography than a series of honest, conversational stories about the men and horses the author encountered. It has endured as a primary source for the genuine spirit of the Old West, anchored by the author’s deep, lifelong friendship with the famed Western artist Charles M. Russell.

The Story

The narrative begins in the impoverished circumstances of the author’s childhood in Iowa, where the early death of his Civil War-veteran father led to his dispersal among strangers. Seeking a new life, he eventually headed west, finding his way into the harsh, wide-open world of the Black Hills and the Montana range. The arc follows the author’s development from a green hand into a seasoned "cowpuncher" and freighter, moving through a succession of ranch outfits with colorful names like the RL and the DHS.

He describes the daily grind of the trail: swimming thousands of head of cattle across the Yellowstone, navigating the dangerous, hole-riddled plains of Canada in search of stray livestock, and managing the unpredictable temperaments of both men and horses. The story is not one of polished heroism; it is a catalog of survival. He details the violence of "wild towns" like Deadwood, the desperate gambling and gold-fever of the Cripple Creek mining camps, and the frequent, sometimes slapstick, conflicts between cowboys and the various authorities they encountered.

The narrative threads are woven together by the author’s deep connection to his peers. He introduces figures like the freighter "Baltimore Bill," who nearly escaped a murder conviction through legal theatrics, and the itinerant preacher "Brother Van," who brought a strange, religious order to the chaos of the camps. Central to the book’s heart is the friendship with Charles M. Russell. The two men bond on the range long before their respective successes, and the author offers intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpses of Russell’s character—his refusal to take himself seriously, his struggles with "civilization" in town, and his deep loyalty to his pinto horse, Monte.

As the book progresses, the open range gradually shrinks. The author recounts his marriage—a clandestine, snowy escape—and his eventual transition to quieter ranch life. The final chapters turn to reflection. He meditates on the nature of "cowboy philosophy," highlighting the inherent contradictions of a group of men who could be violent and thieving one moment, yet unfailingly generous and self-sacrificing to a stranger the next. The book closes not with an ending, but with a tribute to the lasting bonds of brotherhood formed in the saddle, asserting that the true legacy of the old-time cowboy was not the cattle they moved, but the quiet, rugged decency they extended to one another.

How It Unfolds

The early years The author survives a harsh childhood in Iowa before heading west as a young boy. He finds work in the rugged Black Hills, witnessing the transition from raw wilderness to the lawless, bustling boomtowns of the mining era.

Life on the range He joins various cattle outfits, learning the trade of the long trail. These chapters detail the grueling labor of cattle drives, the dangers of river crossings, and the simple, repetitive joys of camp life and fiddle music.

Crossing into the north The author spends time in Canada, engaging in a cat-and-mouse game with the North-West Mounted Police. He uses humor to navigate the cultural clash between rough-riding cowboys and the regimented, city-bred lawmen.

The gold fever He shifts from the range to the mining camps of Cripple Creek. Here, the story captures the frantic, dangerous energy of a gold rush, where fortunes are won in poker games and lives are endangered by the threat of violence.

The final frontier The author settles into married life and looks back on his long association with Charles M. Russell. These concluding chapters act as a eulogy for a way of life, contrasting the legends of the West with the quiet realities of the men who actually lived them.

The People

The author, Con Price, serves as the steady, observational center of the book. He begins as a hungry, displaced boy and matures into a man who finds his identity in the rugged independence of the range. Charles M. Russell appears as the most significant secondary figure; he is the author's closest friend, a man whose artistic genius is secondary to his character and integrity. Tom Daly acts as a foil to the author, a fellow rider who shares the dangerous work of the roundup and the frequent, often humiliating, mishaps that come with cowboy life. "Brother Van" provides the moral heartbeat of the narrative, a religious figure who commands the respect of even the most hardened, whiskey-drinking "waddies." Finally, the nameless ranchers and fellow cowpunchers—often rough, sometimes dangerous, and frequently impoverished—represent the collective, nameless fraternity of the range who offer each other help when the rest of the world has turned away.

In Its Own Voice

"I was born in the year 1869 in Manchester, Iowa. My father served in the Civil War and during that service contracted consumption and was discharged from the army and came home a very sick man, without any provisions being made to take care of him."

The author describes the humble and difficult origins that pushed him toward a life on the frontier.

"He was a very nice horse and as far as bucking, he didn’t jump two feet off the ground. A lady could have rode him."

The author recounts his experience riding a horse that the North-West Mounted Police had deemed a dangerous, untamable "man-eater."

"I recall what seems to me to be very amusing now. There was a school teacher at one of those Pease Bottom dances and she was a great favorite with everybody and every cowboy tried to pick her for a partner, if possible."

The author describes a rare, lighthearted moment of social grace amidst the hard life of the cattle camps.

What It's Really About

At its core, this book is an exploration of the "fraternity of the range." The author is less interested in myth-making than in defining what made the cowboy a unique human archetype. He argues that the cowboy was defined by a specific, paradoxical code: a man could be a brawler or a rustler, yet still possess a profound, unwritten obligation to help any stranger who fell on hard times. It is a study in how isolation and physical hardship created a culture of intense loyalty. The book implicitly asks what is lost when a society moves from the open, lawless freedom of the frontier to the structured, fenced-in reality of modern life, and whether the moral character forged in the former can survive in the latter.

Why Read It Today

Readers who value authentic, unvarnished history will find this volume deeply rewarding. It lacks the polish and artifice of Western fiction, opting instead for a direct, conversational tone that feels as though the author is sitting across from you, recounting his life by a fire. It is not a sanitized account; the author is honest about the prevalence of alcohol, the casual violence of the mining camps, and the sometimes brutal conditions of the trail.

Contemporary readers should be prepared for the period-typical attitudes of the nineteenth-century frontier, which the author expresses with the matter-of-factness of his time. The writing is colloquial, sometimes rambling, and heavily rooted in the specific terminology of the late 1800s, which provides a vivid sense of place but may require patience for those unfamiliar with the era’s dialect. However, the reward for this patience is a genuine window into the past. What stays with the reader is not the grand scale of the cattle drives, but the small, human moments—the way a group of hardened men suddenly fell silent and wept during a funeral, or the way a friend remembered to send a holiday meal to a sick companion. It is a quiet, enduring testament to the dignity found in a difficult life.