People of the Great Plains

[skidboots]

A great collection of photos, a daily journal, and lovely commentary written by Peter Miller an his photographic journey of 1993.
"The Great Plains of America is a vast, open expanse that stretches down and across 10 states - south from the Canadian border to the Texas Panhandle, and west from the 98th meridian to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
On this semi-arid,grassy plateau, sometimes called the High Plains, people have found both hope and despair, but managed to provide America and much of the world with grain and meat. Those who ranch, farm and call the Plains home are hard-working, moral peio;le with goodness of heart. They are stubborn, resilient and, above all, the love the freedom found in the expanse of the land."
This book, which I have only recently found, is a fine tribute to Soapweed, and all his compadres on this board. I just thought I would take a minute to salute you and your many generations who have made our country so strong.
Thanks.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Thanks for posting that. What a nice thing to do.

Looks like I'll be lookin for this book now too. Is it a new release? or one that's been out a while?

 

[skidboots]

Just something I found in a yard sale for $2. The cover price said U.S.$39.50. I would never pay that for a book myself, well maybe for my giant sized Masonic Bible!
Soapweed or Jinglebob, one, wrote a piece awhile back on his ride through the Nebraska sand hills country.....and this book recalled that for me.
"Journal note": "Arthur, Nebraska. Freedom! The wind is brisk and the temperature cool. The humidity is gone. I am in the west, in the Sand Hills. Nothing but grass and rolling hills. So few trees, so few people. This truly is an ocean; a hill is a wave and about every fifth hill is bigger and on the other side are more waves. The wind blows constantly, rippling the grass. If I were a sailboat, I would surf from wave to wave...."

Not bad stuff!

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Well that helps me out a lil bit. I know of a real good used bookstore that seems to nearly always have anything I'm lookin for. Will give it a shot.

 

[Soapweed]

Thank you. We are a stubborn people. :wink: Once we get sand in our boots, it's hard to dump it out.

 

[kolanuraven]

We are a stubborn people. :wink:

Oh.....man oh man do I EVER agree on that statement!!!!

 

[Soapweed]

We are a stubborn people. :wink:

Oh.....man oh man do I EVER agree on that statement!!!!

Wow, that's a first, when you and me agree.

 

[skidboots]

Couldn't resist one more passage, MONTANA:
"If you are one of those enviornmentalists, we can stop talking right now and you get back home."
The words are clipped,abrupt and staccato-fired by someone used to fast handling a rifle at a running coyote. Glenda is her name and she is surrounded by her four buffalo dogs. In the cab of her Scottsdale 4X4 is a .257 Rogers rifle and a .38 revolver in a scuffed up holster. She is baling hay three miles up a creek in the middle of 55,000 acres that comprise her buffalo and cattle ranches.
Glenda's profile is honed by high cheekbones, a perfect nose, no-nonsense lips and a slightly stooped walk tha makes you wince.
Smoke gray tinted glasses hide her eyes, snow-blinded when she was a child. Glenda has lived over half a century on ranches, and is the manager of this spread for an Illinois owner. In four years, she has made the spread profitable.
"The enviornmentalists want the BLM land cattle-free. They want coyotes protected and the wolves brought back. They show a coyote in a trap in their city newspaper, and say it's cruel. Why don't they show a coyote eating the hind end out of a cow, then eating the dead fetus, and the cow is still alive? Or 15 dead lambs, with just the kidneys eaten out by coyotes?
What with the high cost of machinery, of repairs, taxes, fertilizer, these people want to triple our grazing fees. It takes 10 to 30 acres to graze a cow in this country. We need lots of land. We feed the country and the people we feed want to stop us and kick off the land."
In the fall, Glenda stocks her groceries for the winter. She lives alone as her children are (smile) grown and her husband is (a concentrated frown)gone. She takes care of the cattle herself, sews at night, reads and says that after working in minus 40 degree temperatures, with three feet of snow on the ground, she goes to bed early.
I ask the usual question.
She smiled, more to herself than me, and looked down at her dust-coated paint-spattered jeans. Her Cowboy hat covered her eyes.
"Yeah," she said softly, dragging on a cigarette. "I like it a lot."

 

[katrina]

You can take the Sandhiller out of the sandhills:
But, You can't take the sandhills out of the Sandhiller.
Yes sir ree God's Country.

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

Goggled:

Peter Myers - He draws inspiration direct from nature!

Photos in a pdf file
http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=Peter+Miller+photographic+journey+of+1993&sourceid=Mozilla-search

I tried to get in with-out $$$ - No Luck
http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=Peter+Miller+photographic+journey+of+1993&sourceid=Mozilla-search