Old Western Cowboy

This is a contemporary western by Richard S. Wheeler. The setting is in Montana and it has the feel and look of something that could happen. The Big Empty is the name for this country given to it by its shrinking residents in eastern Montana. The character of Laslo Horoney a Texas billionaire who has a vision of turning this land back to the time before white man walked on and destroyed the grass and animals that lived and thrived upon it. This is envisioned as a great idea but along every path a few stones will jump out to trip and stop a person with the best of intensions.

The first of these is the Nichols family who has lived on the land for over one hundred years. Their roots are deep and their determination to stay is unbreakable. Their 347 square miles are very important to the completion of Laslo’s vision. The story is fiction but it has the ring of could be true if some one of vision wanted to spend his money for a dream. The major stumbling block turns out to be the greedy shortsighted politicians both in State government and the Federal government who reverse decisions create new obstacles.  The radical environmentalists try to make it almost impossible for the Nichols family to continue ranching. The Nichols family has over the years increased their vigor in improved the ranch by conserving the land and re-establishing the grass. As every year passes since they began to understand the importance for their care of the land they have attacked it with new zest.

The story is integrated with good guy and bad guys always disguised to the reader with a cloak of mysterious agendas always hidden in the background. I definitely recommend this book to western readers and those who would like to better understand the environment as we strive to improve our planet and help it to survive.