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6666: Portrait of a Texas Ranch
by Wyman Meinzer and Henry Chappell

The Four Sixes is not a relic, showpiece or preserve. It's a working cattle ranch, some 290,000 acres of West Texas prairie carefully used. Here, men still earn their livelihoods on horseback, not out of blind adherence to tradition, but out of necessity.

Since Samuel "Burk" Burnett began buying ranchland in King County in the 1890s, his cowhands have relied on methods developed by early vaqueros and refined on the great trail drives. In managing cattle, these methods are still the most efficient and humane. Spurs, broad-brimmed hats and scuffed and patched boots are not fashion statements but essentials – as are loyalty, toughness and resourcefulness, traits still common to those doing dangerous work in remote country.

Perhaps, though, the Four Sixes' greatest legacy is the land itself. Across four generations, foremen have striven to nurture and restore to leave a healthy range. That stewardship has produced some of the richest, most ecologically diverse grassland found on the Southern Plains today.

12 by 12-inch book with 150 color photographs.

160 pages, hard cover with dust jacket

$45
(#2402)