BUCKSKIN RUN

I tore through BUCKSKIN RUN (1981) in a couple of days while on vacation this week. It's a collection of short stories by Louis L'Amour all of which were originally published in the western pulp magazines of the late '40s and early '50s. Interspersed with the stories are historical factoids about the Old West which L'Amour uncovered while doing research for his stories. The stories are a bit formulaic but they're all entertaining. My favorites are JACKSON OF HORNTOWN, DOWN THE POGONIP TRAIL and WHAT GOLD DOES TO A MAN.  It's worth noting that if you look up these pulp magazines online you'll see that L'Amour's name doesn't appear on any of the covers. At that point in his career, he was a young writer just trying to sell his stories for a penny a word and succeeding. As the years went on, L'Amour's pay rate increased considerably. Here's a rundown of the stories and where they originally appeared.

THE GHOSTS OF BUCKSKIN RUN (THRILLING RANCH STORIES, May 1948), NO TROUBLE FOR THE CACTUS KID (TEXAS RANGERS, December 1947), HORSE HEAVEN (RANGE RIDERS WESTERN 1950), SQUATTERS ON THE LONETREE (TEXAS RANGERS July 1952), JACKSON OF HORNTOWN (TEXAS RANGERS, March 1947), THERE'S ALWAYS A TRAIL (EXCITING WESTERN, July 1948), DOWN THE POGONIP TRAIL (EXCITING WESTERN, May 1949) and WHAT GOLD DOES TO A MAN (THRILLING WESTERN, January 1951).

Thumbs up.