So Far from Spring. Peggy Simson Curry

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       So Far From Spring

      A NOVEL OF THE AMERICAN WEST

      PEGGY SIMSON CURRY

      Copyright © 1956, 1983 by Peggy Simson Curry

      First published by The Viking Press in 1956;

      Republished by Pruett Publishing Co. in 1983.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      Curry, Peggy Simson.

      So far from Spring : a novel of the American West / by Peggy Simson Curry.

      pages ; cm

      ISBN 978-0-87108-320-3 (pbk.)

      ISBN 978-0-87108-321-0 (e-book)

      ISBN 978-0-87108-322-7 (hardbound)

      I. Title.

      PS3505.U826S6 2015

      813’.54—dc23

      2015011479

      Designed by Vicki Knapton

      Front cover photograph © by Charles J. Belden; courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-107981.

      Back cover author photo courtesy of the Peggy Simson Curry Collection, Casper College Western History Center.

      Published by WestWinds Press^®

      An imprint of

      P.O. Box 56118

      Portland, Oregon 97238-6118

      503-254-5591

       www.graphicartsbooks.com

       For my husband, Bill

      CONTENTS

       Note From Previous Publisher

       Note From The Publisher

       Chapter I

       Chapter II

       Chapter III

       Chapter IV

       Chapter V

       Chapter VI

       Chapter VII

       Chapter VIII

       Chapter IX

       Chapter X

       Chapter XI

       Chapter XII

       Chapter XIII

       Chapter XIV

       Chapter XV

       Chapter XVI

       Chapter XVII

       Chapter XVIII

       Chapter XIX

       Chapter XX

       Chapter XXI

       Chapter XXII

       Chapter XXIII

       Chapter XXIV

       Chapter XXV

       Chapter XXVI

       Chapter XXVII

       Chapter XXVIII

       Chapter XXIX

      NOTE FROM PREVIOUS PUBLISHER

      In late May of 1983, my wife and I were returning from California to our home in Boulder, Colorado in our small plane. After we left Grand Junction, the weather worsened and we turned north at Kremmling, hoping to skirt the storm. But as we tried to fly over the Medicine Bow mountains toward Laramie, the clouds thickened and we turned back, landing under darkening skies at Walden in Colorado’s North Park. Although the runway had been cleared, there were many snow drifts around. Fortunately, there were two hospitable Walden school teachers, A.M. Swenson and Mary Rupp, taking a hike on that windswept plateau, and they gave us a ride into town. The next morning we awoke to a steady snowfall, and after breakfast at the Coffee Pot restaurant, we set out to pass some time. We found a haven right next door in the Bifocal bookstore. To my further surprise, I found that the owner, Jane Larson, was an old friend from Boulder. As we talked books, I mentioned that we were republishing Red Fenwick’s West, as I knew Red’s work was popular in ranch country. She countered with the suggestion that we consider Peggy Simson Curry’s novel, So Far From Spring.

      Looking out at the May snowstorm, I thought it was certainly an appropriate title for a book set in North Park, and shortly after we returned to Boulder I wrote Mrs. Curry, received a copy of So Far From Spring, and, after a brief consideration, decided that this fine novel of turn-of-the-century ranch life deserved to be revived. Later, at the Leanin’ Tree gallery in Boulder, we found a Ted Blalock painting among their fine collection of Western art, and it, too, seemed appropriate to the title, and the setting, of So