Salt Fork Stations

by Rock Neelly

Your past is your history. Your ancestors, your predecessors.

How did their lives impact your own? Are you on your own path or does fate play a hand?

Rock Neelly tackles these questions in a rollicking novel that bounces between the rough and rowdy settling of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Strip and the turbulent times of Lawrence, Kansas during the 1960’s civil rights unrest.

One family, two eons—1893 and 1963— connected through time. Fate’s fortune will force a family to confront its past in a chain of events, seemingly inevitable, and yet shocking in its unpredictability.

You can’t pick your family. Can you pick your fate?

428 pages, Paperback

Published August 6, 2022

About the author

Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I was born and raised in Kansas, the grandson of two ranchers. My parents were both from the first generation of their families to attend college and they both became teachers.
My mother is a painter and an artist, but also taught language arts and literature and although my father is a great reader, it from dear ole Mom that I developed my love of literature. She got me to read early and often and I read everything – crazy stuff, Alexandre Dumas novels that our library didn’t even have, not The Three Musketeers or The Man in the Iron Mask, although I read those, of course, but the two sequels to Musketeers, and much more obscure stuff, The Son of the Phantom by Lee Falk, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and westerns by Louis L’Amour. But I wasn’t a total nerd. I lettered in basketball and golf in high school. Not college level material, although my father still holds the scoring record in Kansas for 1A basketball in the state finals, 49 points, I think. He could play, and was a college and professional official back in the day.
I have a great brother and sister, both back in Kansas, and a wonderful extended family. My wife Vicki is the glue of the household, and my step-children and grandchildren keep us all busy.

Reviews

[Barbara Casper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I knew virtually nothing about the settling of the Oklahoma territory and learned quite a bit. But the grabber for this book is the characters. I almost immediately liked both the present and past generations of these families and I got hooked enough by all their trials and tribulations that I didn’t want the book to end. The author does a great job in making his characters believable. I was definitely emotionally invested in all them.

[Jim Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Classic Historical Novel
Like Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Rock Neelly’s Salt Fork Stations is a novel about heartbreak, survival, and dreams.
The book is extremely well-written, especially in structuring alternating chapters. First, we’re introduced to Kansas in the 1960s, then pioneer Oklahoma Territory in the 1890s.
Neelly has created real characters responding to personal and historical events that are culturally important.
Evidence of Neelly’s mature writing style is his willingness to kill some, but not all, of his literary darlings. Fortunately, by the last chapter there are enough characters left standing for a feel-good ending.
Jim Potter--author of Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery

[Shilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in NW Oklahoma. The places described I can picture vividly. I enjoyed that some of the dark, important history that we often try to erase from history is featured.

[Michael Yearout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saddle up your horse and get ready for a wild ride. From the 1850's Oklahoma territory to Lawrence, Kansas the the student uprising in the late 1960's. Great characters, great descriptions and a very fun read.

[Bill Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is set in Kansas and Oklahoma in the late 1890-1900's and late 1960's and early 70's. It is an interesting look at civil rights issues in the early 70's