A Grand Teton Sleigh Ride: Four Generations of Wyoming Ranchers Celebrate Love at Christmas by Elizabeth Goddard & Lynette Sowell

Author:Elizabeth Goddard & Lynette Sowell [Goddard, Elizabeth; Sowell, Lynette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781630585686
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Published: 2014-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

Sam Covington replayed last night’s argument in his mind.

Why couldn’t his stubborn father see that they could keep the cattle ranch and let the dudes help and accomplish two things at once? The dudes would pay Covington Ranch for the chance. Worst case, Sam could do like Dick Randall had done on the other side of Yellowstone with his homestead—he started the first dude ranch in the country. Sam could start by outfitting and guiding hunters through the Rockies, too.

He almost wished he hadn’t already put the word out. He hadn’t expected his father’s reaction. The man had been anything but happy to hear the news from someone else first.

Thank goodness, his mother had sent him on an errand in town this morning until they had calmed down. Sam hadn’t figured calming down would take him all night and through the morning. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he got back to the ranch, where he was doomed to live out his days under the rule of his father and older brother, John, if he didn’t change something.

Boots clanking against the wood floors in Joe Jones’s Grocery, he made his way to the back of the store to the soda vending machine—newly purchased a month ago. Bob, the store clerk, busied himself tallying up a woman’s supplies, so Sam didn’t bother him with small talk. The soda cost Sam a pretty nickel. He probably paid more than anyone in the rest of the country, because Joe loved the store motto, “It’s all got to be brought over the hill.”

The Teton Pass was a harsh overlord, closing the road, cutting off the valley residents’ ability to get in and out for far too long, at times. But no matter. Didn’t look like Sam would go anywhere anytime soon. He opened the bottle and guzzled the soda, a rare treat for him, but he needed the burn down his throat before heading home to face his father.

Problem was, Sam was too progressive a thinker to work under his father, and one day under his brother. Of that, he could be sure. The way they’d laughed at his proposal last night had said it all.

Cattle ranching had been in a slump for years until about three years ago when the price per head started to rise. But it was too late because Sam had already started dreaming about another future. He couldn’t let it go. Never mind the price per hundredweight had reached over twelve dollars.

What was wrong with diversifying? He wanted more from life than taking orders from his brother just because he’d had the misfortunate of being born last in the family. Sure, he’d get an inheritance, but he wouldn’t get the main ranch—the family business. And that had cost him Rebecca, he was sure. In the middle ages, he would have been sent off to the abbey to become a monk. He could see the future as clear as the stars on a moonless night.

Tourists had already transformed the valley.

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