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The Last of the Plainsmen
Original detailed Zane Grey biography Custom cover for your Kindle This historical novel chronicles Colonel "Buffalo" Jones (aka, Buff), the last of the plainsmen. He and several associates venture into the region of Buckskin Mountain, along the northern rim of the Grand Canyon (Arizona). In a continuing quest to establish dominion over wild animals, Jones leads his men on a journey to capture untamed cougars and bring them back alive. After several run-ins with Navajo, Commanche, Yellow Knife and Great Slave Indians, Jones captures a wild cougar. (Wikipedia,
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 19, 2020
3 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Zane Grey
2,075 books589 followersPearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 12, 2024
Well done western. They go on a lion hunt and after a wild stallion. The descriptions are very good. You can really get an image of the place in your head. It does a good job of portraying life in on the western frontier.
December 21, 2025
Interesting read based on Charles Jones-a frontiersman and animal lover. The descriptions of the land were beautiful. Fun book to read.
March 9, 2019
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The Last of the Plainsmen
• by Zane Grey (first published 1908, about 300 pages).
OVERVIEW:
This historical novel chronicles Colonel "Buffalo" Jones (aka, Buff), the last of the plainsmen. He and several associates venture into the region of Buckskin Mountain, along the northern rim of the Grand Canyon (Arizona). In a continuing quest to establish dominion over wild animals, Jones leads his men on a journey to capture untamed cougars and bring them back alive. After several run-ins with Navajo, Commanche, Yellow Knife and Great Slave Indians, Jones captures a wild cougar.
Buff Jones (1844 to 1919) helped rescue the American Bison from extinction and distinguished himself as a capture-alive, wildlife conservationist. Apparently tranquilizer guns were not available (not untill the 1950s), so Jones relied on tracking dogs and a lasso to capture a variety of animals. In 1907 the author (Zane Grey) arranged to accompany Jones and his men on a tracking adventure. This biography is based on their long adventure together.
Begins with Zane and the 63 year old Jones crossing the Arizona desert in wagons with Mormon guides and a pack of bloodhounds.
"...we descended into the desert... I turned often to gaze back at the San Francisco peaks. The snow-capped tips glistened... Some one said they could be seen two hundred miles across the desert..."
Enduring sandstorms, crossing the Colorado rivers, avoiding quicksand, and other perils they eventually arrive at the ranch where Zane meets the ranch hands Frank and Jim. Grant Wallace the tall Californian soon arrives, having missed the departure some 12 days earlier.
Jones tells of his successful hybrid Cattalo, made from crossing a buffalo with a cow. Considerable time is spent training the hounds to track mountain lion and to ignore rabbit, deer and a variety of other enticing scents. Jones and crew locate the last herd of buffalo on the plains. To perpetuate the herd Jones captures and ties eight of the calves--wolves always tracking them. It's a daunting and exhausting task. He disdains bloodletting, but still shoots two mama bison to avoid being killed. They were angered over losing their calves. We're not told what happened to the dead mamas. Maybe the gray devils (the wolves) got them.
A white stallion leading a band of wild black Mustangs has avoided capture for 6 years. Now Jones gets close, his lasso brushing the stallion's tail, just before the horse leaps a hole and escapes, again.
Tales of past exploits: Jones and Rea, a free-trader and giant of a man, are in the far north near the Arctic Ocean in pursuit of musk-ox. In addition to months of subzero temperatures, rabid wolf packs and lack of food, the Indians oppose them as well. The musk-ox is their god. Capturing young calves is relatively easy, being much smaller than bison and they're easy to transport on the dog sleds. Having barely survived and now nearing the safety of their cabin they relax and sleep. In the night the aggrieved Indians arrive and kill all the calves.
The musk-ox quest and fighting off rabid wolves may be the most engrossing tale in the book. Quite a feat to fend off a pack of rabid wolves and avoid being bit.
The group: Jones; Zane Grey; ranch hands Frank and Jim; and Wallace now head into cougar country.
Knife crested ridges rolled westward, wave on wave, like the billows of the sea...A wonderful country for deer and lions, it seemed to me...all but impossible for a hunter.
They eventually track down Old Tom, the giant cougar who's the bane of all ranchers in the area and is as large as an African lioness. Regrettably they're unable to rope him alive. When the great cat leaps at Zane he raises his little automatic Remington. Old Tom dies and rolls two hundred yards down the canyon.
There's a section on cougar behavior and facts, which details their brutality and the cannibalism carried out by the Toms.
The hounds treed a full-grown, female cougar. They name her Kitty--the first of several mountain lions Colonel Jones plans to keep. With considerable effort the cat is lassoed, collared, muzzled and packed back to camp. In the past, when Colonel Jones was game warden of the Yellowstone Park, he had captured many cougars, but the military officials took them.
In addition to taking photos (and probably note taking) Zane hunts as well. He gets a wolf and skins it himself. Before going their separate ways Jones & company make plans for a hunt the next year, capturing black bears in Utah near the Pink Cliffs.
.
There's no doubt Colonel Jones was committed to wildlife preservation, but his actions at times seemed cruel or hypocritical (of course this all took place over 100 years ago).
Some details are not always clear, which can be annoying or confusing.
The story provides great insight into the waning years of the wild west.
.
..
The Last of the Plainsmen
• by Zane Grey (first published 1908, about 300 pages).
OVERVIEW:
This historical novel chronicles Colonel "Buffalo" Jones (aka, Buff), the last of the plainsmen. He and several associates venture into the region of Buckskin Mountain, along the northern rim of the Grand Canyon (Arizona). In a continuing quest to establish dominion over wild animals, Jones leads his men on a journey to capture untamed cougars and bring them back alive. After several run-ins with Navajo, Commanche, Yellow Knife and Great Slave Indians, Jones captures a wild cougar.
Buff Jones (1844 to 1919) helped rescue the American Bison from extinction and distinguished himself as a capture-alive, wildlife conservationist. Apparently tranquilizer guns were not available (not untill the 1950s), so Jones relied on tracking dogs and a lasso to capture a variety of animals. In 1907 the author (Zane Grey) arranged to accompany Jones and his men on a tracking adventure. This biography is based on their long adventure together.
Begins with Zane and the 63 year old Jones crossing the Arizona desert in wagons with Mormon guides and a pack of bloodhounds.
"...we descended into the desert... I turned often to gaze back at the San Francisco peaks. The snow-capped tips glistened... Some one said they could be seen two hundred miles across the desert..."
Enduring sandstorms, crossing the Colorado rivers, avoiding quicksand, and other perils they eventually arrive at the ranch where Zane meets the ranch hands Frank and Jim. Grant Wallace the tall Californian soon arrives, having missed the departure some 12 days earlier.
Jones tells of his successful hybrid Cattalo, made from crossing a buffalo with a cow. Considerable time is spent training the hounds to track mountain lion and to ignore rabbit, deer and a variety of other enticing scents. Jones and crew locate the last herd of buffalo on the plains. To perpetuate the herd Jones captures and ties eight of the calves--wolves always tracking them. It's a daunting and exhausting task. He disdains bloodletting, but still shoots two mama bison to avoid being killed. They were angered over losing their calves. We're not told what happened to the dead mamas. Maybe the gray devils (the wolves) got them.
A white stallion leading a band of wild black Mustangs has avoided capture for 6 years. Now Jones gets close, his lasso brushing the stallion's tail, just before the horse leaps a hole and escapes, again.
Tales of past exploits: Jones and Rea, a free-trader and giant of a man, are in the far north near the Arctic Ocean in pursuit of musk-ox. In addition to months of subzero temperatures, rabid wolf packs and lack of food, the Indians oppose them as well. The musk-ox is their god. Capturing young calves is relatively easy, being much smaller than bison and they're easy to transport on the dog sleds. Having barely survived and now nearing the safety of their cabin they relax and sleep. In the night the aggrieved Indians arrive and kill all the calves.
The musk-ox quest and fighting off rabid wolves may be the most engrossing tale in the book. Quite a feat to fend off a pack of rabid wolves and avoid being bit.
The group: Jones; Zane Grey; ranch hands Frank and Jim; and Wallace now head into cougar country.
Knife crested ridges rolled westward, wave on wave, like the billows of the sea...A wonderful country for deer and lions, it seemed to me...all but impossible for a hunter.
They eventually track down Old Tom, the giant cougar who's the bane of all ranchers in the area and is as large as an African lioness. Regrettably they're unable to rope him alive. When the great cat leaps at Zane he raises his little automatic Remington. Old Tom dies and rolls two hundred yards down the canyon.
There's a section on cougar behavior and facts, which details their brutality and the cannibalism carried out by the Toms.
The hounds treed a full-grown, female cougar. They name her Kitty--the first of several mountain lions Colonel Jones plans to keep. With considerable effort the cat is lassoed, collared, muzzled and packed back to camp. In the past, when Colonel Jones was game warden of the Yellowstone Park, he had captured many cougars, but the military officials took them.
In addition to taking photos (and probably note taking) Zane hunts as well. He gets a wolf and skins it himself. Before going their separate ways Jones & company make plans for a hunt the next year, capturing black bears in Utah near the Pink Cliffs.
.
There's no doubt Colonel Jones was committed to wildlife preservation, but his actions at times seemed cruel or hypocritical (of course this all took place over 100 years ago).
Some details are not always clear, which can be annoying or confusing.
The story provides great insight into the waning years of the wild west.
.
..
April 2, 2014
These stories are so cool. The author, Zane Grey, meets Buffalo Jones in 1907 for an expedition to capture cougars alive, and records several of his stories.
Buffalo Jones was named a preserver of the American Bison. He lassoed many species of game, once capturing 8 buffalo calves in one day, catching the last couple barehanded, while fending off wolves. He trekked to northern Canada to capture muskoxen, fighting off angry Indians and (literally) rabid polar wolves. At the end of their journey, vindictive Indians killed his muskox calves, because muskoxen are sacred.
And the stories of cougar hunts are wild and death-defying, on the all but inaccessible northern rim of the Grand Canyon.
Buffalo Jones was named a preserver of the American Bison. He lassoed many species of game, once capturing 8 buffalo calves in one day, catching the last couple barehanded, while fending off wolves. He trekked to northern Canada to capture muskoxen, fighting off angry Indians and (literally) rabid polar wolves. At the end of their journey, vindictive Indians killed his muskox calves, because muskoxen are sacred.
And the stories of cougar hunts are wild and death-defying, on the all but inaccessible northern rim of the Grand Canyon.
August 23, 2018
Excitement in the West
I found the book to be entertaining. It was well written and a fairly quick read. The characters were well developed believable. I would recommend the book for it's story.
I found the book to be entertaining. It was well written and a fairly quick read. The characters were well developed believable. I would recommend the book for it's story.
June 21, 2017
Meh....... It kept me engaged but not anywhere close to a favorite.
July 1, 2018
A hunting trip on Arizona Strip/north rim of Grand Canyon.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews