Hanging Woman Creek by Louis L'Amour

Looking at myself in the mirror, my face still ugly from the beating I'd taken from Bohlen, I couldn't figure what she saw in me. But a man's life is much in his own hands, and what I was did not have to be the measure of what I would be.

-- Louis L'Amour, Hanging Woman Creek

This is my second book as part of the BookTube reading event Shorty September. The prompt was Mom Shorts: A comfort read, and this cozy little Western felt very comfortable.

I was reading this book not long after finishing Lonesome Dove, and in that book Call was leading his cattle drive to Montana, so there were some place names that appeared in both books. This led me to look more at the geography, timeline, and people in Handing Woman Creek, and I was surprised to learn how much L'Amour based this work on actual people and places. But more on that later.

First, a little about the story. Barnabas "Pronto" Pike is a cowhand and after spending some time in Chicago, he is heading back west to Miles Town, Montana, in hopes of getting work with a cattle outfit. He partners up with Eddie Holt, a Black man who was a boxer and rode with the Buffalo Bill Show. He rides, but he's never worked with cattle. Pronto and Eddie decide to help each other out; Pronto will teach Eddie what he needs to get work on a ranch, and Eddie will teach Pronto how to box, a skill he sorely needs.  In fact, he is called Pronto, because he is fast to throw a punch, but he doesn't win that many fights.

On the way to Miles City, they run across Van Boekkelen, who is running from the law, and Jim Fargo, a Pinkerton agent hunting Boekkelen. In town, Pronto asks about his friend Tom Gatty and finds that he has gone from cowhand to trading stock, and Pronto wonders if he is rustling cattle. At the bar, Charley Brown connects Pronto up with Bill Justin of the Bar J outfit, and Justin gives him and Eddie a job working at the line camp taking care of the cattle for the winter.

We also meet some other characters in town including some of the other cattlemen, a few outlaws, and an Irish woman, Ann Farley, who has come to stay with her brother Philo at his homestead. We learn that there are tensions between the cattlemen and the homesteaders, called nesters. The tension is cause by more than just the fences that the homesteaders are building, and the cattlemen assume the nesters are stealing their livestock.  Some of the cattlemen have hired vigilantes to help rid the country of actual rustlers and to help drive the homesteaders off their land.

Several people warn Pronto and Eddie not to take the job at the line camp, but won't say why. When they get there, they find that there has been a gun fight at the cabin, and they can tell that many different groups have been scouting the area from the horse tracks. While out working the cattle one day, they hear a gunshot and find a cowhand Johnny Ward shot in the back. They've also noticed that some of the cattle have gone missing.

Pronto has several mysteries to solve. Who is shooting up the line camp: rustlers, homesteaders, or vigilantes? Is the murder of Johnny Ward a singular event or will that murderer come after them? Who is rustling Justin's cattle, Gatty? Or maybe some other cattleman just trying to scare Bill Justin? 

In this story we get a good mix of the history of cattle ranching in early Montana, shoot-em-up action, and frontier justice. I read that Pronto Pike is not L'Amour's usual lead character in that Pronto is not proficient with a handgun, and except for liking to fight, he is pretty laid back, and he does good work when he has a job. Pronto's character and his friendship with Eddie are probably why I enjoyed this book from the start. It was a good tale, and a mostly satisfying ending, albeit a little cheesy.

I was surprised that L'Amour mentions so many real life characters, but that is no different than other historical novels. I decided to look up what I could, but I first had to make a list of characters since I couldn't find a source. Where possible, I provide the dates of birth and death for characters taken from real life and links to related historical images and articles. 

People and Places in Hanging Woman Creek

Barnabas (Barney, Pronto) Pike - 26 years old  and has worked as a cowboy with cattle outfits since he was 14 when he arrived in Miles City in 1871. 

Eddie Holt - a few years older than Pronto, Eddie was a professional boxer and in the Buffalo Bill show, where he played a Native American since he was Black. Eddie had boxed against such real-life legends as Paddy Ryan and Joe Coburn.

Salty Breakingridge - Pronto had been in a fight with Salty at Ryan's the night before the book starts.

Van Bokkelen - A big blond man, wanted for murder with a $5,000 reward, who travels with Pronto and Eddie a while.

Jim Fargo - A Pinkerton agent hunting Van Bokkelen

Miles City - The location for much of the story.  More about Miles City, once known as Milestown, and the Diamond R corral, Charley Brown's bar, Macqueen House, and the sign for Ringer & Johnson Livery, possibly where Pronto would have stayed the night.

Charley Brown - Bar owner in Miles City where there is always a pot of mulligan stew on the stove. Charley set Pronto and Edie up with a job. There is a sterograph of Charley Brown's City Hotel and Bar in Miles City taken by Laton Huffman taken sometime in 1879-1885.

Bill Justin - cattleman who offers Pronto and Eddie a job at the line camp for the winter on Hanging Woman Creek, Bar J brand.

Windy and Nebraska - cowhands working for Bill Justin and takeover the line camp when Pronto and Eddie leave

Bud Oliver - He had been working at Justin's line camp on Hanging Woman Creek before Pronto and Eddie had taken over, and he was plenty glad to see them and get out of there.

Tom Gatty - a friend of Pronto's from the Dakota Territory who has started trading in cattle since Pronto had last seen him and Pronto wonders if he has become a rustler, hypochondriac.

Duster Wyman - one of Tom Gatty's men

Shorty Cones and Chin Baker - outlaws working for Tom Gatty that try to intimidate Pronto and Eddie at the cabin at the line camp. Chin used to run with Clyde Orum

Philo Farley - An Irish homesteader whose property is on Otter Creek, PF brand. He fought for the British Empire in the Northwest Frontier of India. The cattlemen don't take kindly to homesteaders and think they are all cattle rustlers.

Ann Farley - The sister of Philo Farley who has come from Ireland to help out on the farm.

Johnny Ward - a cowhand shot near the line camp and discovered by Pronto and Eddie

Roman Bohlen - Cattleman, RB brand.

Johnny Ives - gunfighter, rides for Roman Bohlen

George Woll - gunfighter, rides with Johnny Ives

Al, Cruikshank, Red Hardeman - cowhands working for Roman Bohlen. Pronto once beat Red in a fight.

Butch Hogan - Bull-whacker from the Diamond R freight outfit. Pronto had fought him once and got "whupped."

Doc Finerty - a medical doctor from Fort Keogh near Miles City

Hartman and Liggett horse camp - a place in Montana where Pronto had worked one winter, and he fondly remembers that there was always a pot of beans on the stove

Powell "Pike" Landusky (1849-1894) - cowman, trapper, hunter, and miner who was working for Granville Stuart when Pronto gets to town.

Granville Stuart (1834-1918) - cattleman with a bit outfit in Montana

John X. Beidler (1831-1890) - lawman, vigilante, working for Granville Stuart

Verna Elwin - Wife of an Englishman and friend of Ann Farley, she and Mr. Elwin are visiting a ranch in the area, but were staying in the Macqueen House.

Clyde Orum - ran a local gang and kept hideouts throughout the territory. He was killed, but he still has family in the area.