THE WICKWIRE JOURNALS: Taming of the Wild West

Before the West was won, it had to be lived.

In the annals of American history, certain names embody the untamed spirit of the West—Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Molly Brown, Wild Bill Hickock, and Calamity Jane. Yet, amidst these legends, there exists a figure whose story, though not etched in the same bold strokes upon the canvas of popular memory, is nonetheless a testament to the rugged determination and indomitable spirit that characterized the men and women who forged the frontier. This tale, drawn from the journals of Byron F. Wickwire, recounts an adventurous life intertwined with the tumultuous late nineteenth century, when the American West was a land of opportunity and peril, and the clash of cultures and the pursuit of dreams defined the landscape.

Born during the chaos of the Civil War, Byron F. Wickwire grew up on Dime Western stories of frontier legends — and then became one himself. From the rolling plains of Nebraska to the untamed mountains of Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin, The Wickwire Journals chronicles one man’s true-life journey into the heart of the American West.

Told through Byron’s own vivid and unfiltered journals — preserved and curated by author Leon Schatz — this first volume paints a gripping portrait of cowboy life as it really was. Ride alongside Byron as he breaks horses, drives cattle, survives brutal winters, and bears witness to infamous events like the hanging of Big Nose George and the Johnson County Cattle Wars. Along the way, he builds a life, a legacy, and a dream in a wild land on the brink of change.

By 1897, Byron carved out a place of his own on the Paint Rock Creek — but a new adventure calls from the frozen north. Word of the Yukon Gold Rush has reached Wyoming, and Byron sees one last big chance: to lead a 2,000-mile wild horse drive through the wilderness to strike it rich.