CARTRIDGE CREEK is an unusual western story. It’s the story of a wild town needing taming but it’s not a ‘new lawman rides into town and lays down the law’ story. The fellow that does the taming is a real estate developer. Yes, you heard right. A real estate developer. The lead character is Will Leatherman, but although he’s a partner in the San Antonio Development real estate company, he’s also an ex-trail hardened cowman. He was tired of the roller coaster life of a cowman and wanted to do something to make steady money. So he took his $20,000 savings and invested in real estate. He and his partner purchase real estate properties, develop them and resell them at a profit.
But now he and his partner are in a bind and have to find a big money-making deal in order to prevent bankruptcy. So in the beginning of the novel, we find them eyeing a couple of properties across the country that they feel might meet their needs. His partner is checking into one option, while Leatherman is checking into another. The option Leatherman is looking into is a town owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad and a nearby ranch owned by a man named Gorman. The town is called Cartridge Creek and the railroad has put it up for sale dirt cheap. Gorman is a retiring rancher and is also offering his ranch up for sale at an extremely low price. Leatherman’s first task is to find out why both properties are so low in price.
Just as Leatherman arrives in town, he receives a telegram from his partner who informs him that the other deal is no longer an option. So Cartridge Creek and the Gorman Ranch are now their last hope. Buying a whole town and a large, well-watered ranch in close proximity could be a sweet deal that saves their company--or it could bust them. And in Leatherman’s case, he could lose his life.
What Leatherman finds out about the town has him ready to throw in his cards and tell his partner it’s time to dissolve the company and salvage what they can, but that ranch...he wants that Gorman ranch. Unfortunately, the town is wild and unruly, run by a savage ex-Quantrill rider and his rival. Between their feuding and the rustling, the town is not the prosperous family-friendly place it could be and all the ranches round about suffer, including the sweet beauty that is up for sale.
The town is filled with gunmen chased out of New Mexico following the Lincoln County War. And the gunmen’s loyalties are divided up between two saloon-owners: Fate Canady and Goldtooth Bob. These are the two feuding factions. Partners at one time (they opened the Cattleman Saloon together), they had a falling out and are now sworn enemies. Goldtooth Bob left the Cattleman Saloon and opened the Silver Dollar Saloon. Things are heating up and it looks like there will be an all-out war any day.
The Southern Pacific Railroad is tired of the trouble-causing gunmen and would rather sell the town cheap than hire anyone to tame the place. Leatherman and his partner have approached the railroad to buy the town but want to take a look at it first. He enters the town incognito; not letting anyone know his real purpose there or his association with the San Antonio Development company.
He takes a room at the boarding house owned by a widow named Bettina Grady who is being courted by the local town booster, a likeable fellow named Tom Brand. Brand is enthusiastic about the town’s prospects and is the major reason the railroad came through and the town has prospered. At least it prospered up until the gunmen moved in. He’s handy with a gun and befriends Leatherman.
Leatherman is not entirely sure he wants any part of the trouble due to occur and struggles with his decision to buy or leave. If he buys, he knows that the wild bunch will have to be cleared out of the town or they will never be able to develop and sell property there. If he leaves, he and his partner will surely have to declare bankruptcy. And then there’s that ranch. It’s such a beautiful ranch with plenty of land and water that he’s entertaining the idea of buying it up for himself rather than for development. And lastly, there’s Bettina Grady. He keeps picturing Bettina Grady on that ranch with him. But of course, there’s an expectation and understanding that Bettina will marry Brand when he asks her.
Leatherman finally makes his decision. And as you can guess, he decides to gamble at taking a hand at cleaning up the town and buying the ranch for himself. He sends a telegram to his partner to proceed with the deal.
As expected, there’s all kinds of gunplay. The two hard-case town bosses have it out in a fierce Lincoln County-style shootout in the middle of town, followed by drunken revelry. The whole town is shot up, windows smashed, dead gunmen laying in the street and the losing saloon trashed. The townsfolk all hole up in their homes until it’s all over. They stand guard all night with weapons ready to protect their homes and women from the marauders. One of the townsfolk peeking through covered window describes it as “...like watching hell through a peep hole.”
Following the win by Fate Canady, Leatherman plans a three-pronged attack: with the townsmen starting a battle in town, he plans to have a group of ex-railroad policemen approach the town from one side and the ranchers approach from the other side.
With the prospects of the town looking rosier and an offer of the town management position, Brady asks Bettina to marry him. She, however, turns him down. And although she doesn’t mention Leatherman, Brady suspects rightly that he is the reason. His jealousy turns into an ugly betrayal which not only nearly costs Leatherman his life, but also puts the town in severe jeopardy.
It’s a gripping story with plenty of conflict--Leatherman’s conflicting emotions about the situation; the competition between Leatherman and Brady for Bettina’s affections; the town bosses against each other and the town and then finally, the winner of the feud against Leatherman and his little ‘army’.
This is one I would definitely re-read.
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| Back Cover |
IRONIC FACT: far more cigars are smoked than cigarettes, but the cover drawing shows a cowboy smoking a cigarette.
FAVORITE LINES:
“You stand fast or you’re dead as hell!”
“I don’t care how many trains go through Cartridge Creek; the one I leave on is the one I pick myself.”
“When a man’s time comes to die, he can do it two ways. Straight up on his hind legs or hunched over like a scared rabbit in a hailstorm. Me, I ain’t no rabbit.”
Manor Books printing 1975
Original copyright - Doubleday & Company Inc 1973
Cigarettes lit up 1
Cigars lit up 10
Gunplay 4
Fistfights 1
Bushwhacks 3
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