Wisdom of a Cowboy "Crossing the River & Climbing the Mountain"

Wisdom of a Cowboy
“Crossing the River & Climbing the Mountain”
By Rob Wilson

"The Wisdom of a Cowboy: Crossing the River and Climbing the Mountain, is a treasure chest of rare jewels of wisdom, gathered by Rob Wilson during a trek, in the high desert of Arizona, “Crossing the River and Climbing the Mountain” and throughout the challenges of his life. Rob shares the wisdom that he's gleaned from his experiences in the life of a cowboy, using metaphors to illustrate for the reader how the aspects of a cowboy's life hold deep knowledge for all. From being the Gun fighter in your own life to the fast paced life expanding adventures of the Pony Express Rider. This is a book to savor, as one would a rich and satisfying meal of many courses of delicious, nutritious food - in this case the food is wisdom for the soul. Each chapter, each page offers a multitude of thought-provoking examples of how one's inner life is reflected in the outer world. At the end of each chapter, Rob offers the reader three energizing affirmations and three penetrating questions to empower those seeking to know their own inner wisdom. The real question to ask yourself here is your sunrise gallantly over flowing with blessings everyday in every way for you. For a real Life expanding adventure this a must read for everyone. Rob Wilson is a NLP Practioner – Hypnotherapist.
This book is published by InnerCircle Publishing and is available at: www.innercirclepublishing.com and www.cowboy-wisdom.com
Review by: ZZ Troutski

A Drive thru The National Bison Range

It was a Beautiful warm Montana Spring Day. The first real nice on in several weeks, due to snow and rain. Typical Montana spring type weather, It changes by the hour here... Love it though. We decided to take a ride to St. Ignatius and go through the old Mission Church and wander over to the National Bision Range and do the 16 mile loop scenic drive. Here what we saw.

History of the Bison Range

The history of the bison, or buffalo, in the Flathead Valley began in about 1873 when Walking Coyote, a Pend d' Oreille Indian, returned from Blackfeet Country on the plains with five orphaned calves. When he had about 13 buffalo, he sold them to two ranchers, Michael Pablo and Charles Allard. At that time, of the 30 to 70 million bison that once roamed the plains, less than 100 remained in the wild and there were fewer than 1,000 left. The Pablo/Allard herd had become the largest herd in existence. Allard's heirs sold his portion of the herd to Charles Conrad in Kalispell and animals from the Conrad herd formed the nucleus of the Bison Range stock.

As the valley became settled, Pablo realized that his large herd of free-roaming buffalo would not be very welcome, and he attempted to sell them to the United States Government. When he received little response, he sold the herd to Canada. The sale of this last, large herd out of the country produced a huge public outcry which led to the formation of the American Bison Society. Through the efforts of William Hornaday of the Smithsonian Institution, President Theodore Roosevelt and congress were persuaded to set aside lands for the preservation of the American bison. Three reserves were established between 1907 and 1909 to save bison from extinction.

The National Bison Range was one of these, and was established in 1908. Today bison are no longer in danger of extinction and there are more than 140,000 in North America. A large percentage of these are in private herds.

Currently, some 350 to 500 bison roam the 18,500 acres of the Bison Range, which is a part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Range is made up primarily of native Palouse prairie grasslands, but also includes mountain forest, wetlands and river bottom woodlands. In addition to bison, these diverse habitats provide a home for some 50 different animals and over 200 bird species.

Towards the end of 16 miles, a 3 hour drive we came a upon a small herd of elk standing in Mission Creek. Look like they were cooling of from our first day of eighty one degrees, here in western Montana.

THE BUFFALO CHIP

Or When the Chips are Down!!!

I would like to end this on the Buffalo Chip. If you lived upon the paririe traveling this would have been your only means of heat and cooking fuel. Only grass and buffalo chips as far as the eye can see. I image the Buffalo chip added an interesting flavor to the evening dinner.