The Cowboy Legend Owen Wister's Virginian and the Canadian-American Frontier.

Payne, David W. Leonard Michael

The Cowboy Legend Owen Wister's Virginian and the Canadian-American Frontier

by John Jennings. Calgary: University of Calgary

Press, 412 pp., illus., $39.95.

When Owen Wister published The Virginian in 1902, the book had an immediate influence on the image of the American cowboy. The Virginian was a man to be admired, a gentleman in a coarse and lawless frontier.

Jennings believes that the Virginian was Everett Johnson, a frontiersman who later settled north-west of Calgary.

Using the lives of Wister, Johnson, and the Virginian, the author takes a detailed and captivating look at the American and Canadian ranching frontiers. They were similar in that they both had cattle, but there the comparison ended. The American West was violent and home to such men was Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickock, Big Nose George, and the Hole in the Wall gang. Canada had the Mounted Police and a relatively tame frontier. As the author says, "Generally, Canadians were--and are--far more willing to accept control over their lives and their civil liberties than are Americans." (p.228)

Jennings descriptions of the two frontiers is a masterpiece of writing. He uses the Virginian account to delve into the exciting stories of the West, many of which touched upon Johnson's own life.

Johnson went to Wyoming as a lad and came to know the rogues and heroes who populated the West. The author uses these contacts as a springboard into the details of frontier life. In 1885 Johnson moved to Alberta where he had a long and colourful career. For example, how many men could say that they had the Sun Dance Kid as the best man at their wedding? Johnson could, and did.

Jennings makes a strong case for Everett Johnson being the Virginian and, although not conclusive, he is probably right.

Edited by David W. Leonard and Michael Payne, these two books are well worth reading for anyone interested in the fur trade and the Peace country.