A detailed account of early cowboy life in the Mancos Valley is being revitalized with a reprint by the Montezuma Heritage Museum.
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 9, “Cow Talk: The Memoirs of George Menefee” will be available for purchase at the museum in downtown Cortez.
“The book is the best account I have seen of what it was like to be cowboying and ranching in those early days,” said Barbara Stagg, a museum development staff with the Montezuma Heritage Museum.
The book follows the tales of George Menefee, as told by Lottie Reddert, related to the cattleman by marriage. Reddert is who recounted his stories. An original version of the book, published in 1976, soon went out of print, Stagg said.
Traveling by wagon from the Pacific Northwest in the spring of 1877, then 4-year-old George Menefee settled with his family into what came to be known as the Mancos Valley, allured by the promise of good grasses and open country for cattle grazing. There, in that same valley, Menefee lived until the age of 93.
“While a great many stories are left untold, the ones here exhibit a remarkable integrity as they depict the colorful minutia of another era, vestiges of which can still be found in this special corner of the Southwest,” writes Ryan Brown, author of the reprint’s new introduction and a relative of Menefee through marriage.
The book’s reprinting was funded from a grant provided by the Ballantine family, Stagg said.
The original cabin and subsequently built Victorian home where Menefee and his family settled are still standing. A special book launch at the Reddert-Menefee family ranch exclusively for Montezuma Heritage Museum members and family will be hosted over the first Sunday of September.
Whether the curious-minded or casual reader, the cattleman or the ranch hand, the book’s lively portrait of early settler life could appeal to anyone. As a bonus, purchase of the book also includes a copy of a 19th-century map of the area.
The Ballantine family, owners of The Journal, provided a charitable grant to the Montezuma Heritage Museum for the reprint of “Cow Talk.” No members of the Ballantine Family were involved in The Journal’s reporting on the book reprint.
