Ken Reyher
5 books in the catalogue, published 1998 to 2009.
Ken Reyher is a Western Slope writer of Colorado history. Per the book descriptions we hold, he is a former history teacher and crop dusting pilot who writes historical columns for local newspapers and poetry besides. His books cover a fur trader, a Spanish exploring party, a mining boom, ranching and death on the frontier. Western Reflections Publishing carries five of them, published between 1998 and 2009.
About Ken Reyher
We know Ken Reyher mostly through his books and their descriptions. Silver & Sawdust describes him as a former history teacher and crop dusting pilot whose articles have appeared in several national publications. He writes historical columns for two Western Slope newspapers, and is a regional poet. He lives with his wife Jan outside Olathe, Colorado, with their numerous horses and dogs.
The same description says he has made several solo hikes along extended portions of pioneer trails, using only the tools, food and clothing of a century and a half ago. A Bookshare synopsis adds that he was raised by a ranching family and writes cowboy poetry. We could not find a longer biography, or birth and death dates, so we do not give any.
Books
Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death
The most recent of the five, listed at 2009. It looks at how pioneers faced dying, burial and loss, treating it as a story of faith, courage and survival.
Antoine Robidoux and Fort Uncompahgre
A short biography of the fur trader Antoine Robidoux and his trading post near Delta, Colorado, built on a relationship with the Ute. It is the earliest of the five in our catalogue, listed at 1998.
High Country Cowboys-A History of Ranching in Western Colorado
A history of Colorado ranching told through remarkable cowboys, with the argument that mountain ranching differs from ranching in other states. It is drawn from the author's own ranching background.
Silver & Sawdust
A social history of the San Juan mining camps in the late 1880s, from tent settlements to towns with telephones and electric lights, until the boom ended in 1893. It focuses on the lives of ordinary people.
Wilderness Wanderers
Reyher retraces the 1776 exploring party of two priests who sought a route from Santa Fe toward California. His account draws on their diary and maps, and on his own walking of the route.
What the books share
Reyher's books share a region and a habit. The region is Western Colorado and the country around it, from the Uncompahgre valley to the San Juans and into Utah. The habit is going to the ground: he retraced the Spanish expedition's route on foot, and grew up around ranching. The subjects run from the fur trade of the 1820s and the 1776 expedition to the mining camps of the 1880s, then to ranch life and the experience of death on the frontier. Most are about people more than events.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Good to know
How many Ken Reyher books does Western Reflections publish?
Where does Ken Reyher live?
What did he do before writing?
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Writers like this one are how the list was built
We have published Colorado and Western writers since 1996, and every submission is still read by a person. Send yours, finished or half written.