Biography & Autobiography Historical
To Be a Cowboy
Oliver Christensen's Story
- Publisher
- University of Calgary Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2004
- Category
- Historical
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781552381175
- Publish Date
- Feb 2004
- List Price
- $24.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781552384602
- Publish Date
- Feb 2004
- List Price
- $24.95
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Description
During a time of two world wars and a sluggish world economy, many Northern Europeans left their homelands to build the American and Canadian West with dreams of abundance and new life. Spanning a period from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, To Be a Cowboy : Oliver Christensen's Story recounts the dreams and realities of a father and a son.
Otto Christensen came to North America in the early 1900s as an indentured farm worker from Denmark with a dream of becoming a successful farmer in Alberta. His son, Oliver, grew up on his father's farm during the Dirty Thirties and soon realized his dream of becoming a cowboy in the mid-1940s. As a rider at the Bar U Ranch -- the largest, most successful ranch in Canada at the time - Oliver discovered life as a cowboy could not be his for long. Based on oral history interviews and a treasure trove of family papers, To Be A Cowboy is a compelling memoir that paints a portrait of a dying way of life.
About the authors
Barbara Holliday was a historian on the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site development project for six years. Born in Manitoba, Barbara moved from one Canadian Navy base to another, dreaming of owning a horse and living in Alberta one day.