Grace Mcclure

A few months ago we spent several days in Northwest Colorado and I purchased this book at Dinosaur National Monument. Among many other places, we visited Josie's cabin in Dinosaur, so this book was especially interesting, detailing not only Josie Bassett Morris's story but also the lives of her mother and sister, all headstrong women, and their families. As pioneers in Brown's Park, near the tri-state area of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah and north of today's National Monument, the area was wild; rules and laws fit the needs of the day. Cattle often belonged to the finder and butchered for the next meal. It is hard to know how many times Josie was married, probably at least 5 times in days when divorce was rare and deaths difficult to investigate. Josie and her sister Ann were well educated, especially for the place and times, and they combined their education with inherent intelligence to twist their advantage. Josie's work ethic and her love for her land on Cub Creek (now in southeastern Dinosaur National Monument) where she lived in a simple, but multi-room log cabin for nearly fifty years to 1964, was beyond compare.

Grace McClure did a stellar job of researching and writing this story.… (altro)

"All things would now be possible for her, given time and a willingness to work, and these two things she has in endless abundance."


This is the story of an early pioneer family at Brown’s Park from 1876 to 1950. Rather than feeling like a regional history book, the author weaves tales as if sitting beside a fire sharing stories of folks living amongst the Old West. We learn of outlaws, Mormons and Native Americans who were passing through a land that greatly shaped the people and their struggles.… (altro)