Wilson Rockwell
5 books in the catalogue, published 1998 to 2011.
Wilson Rockwell was a Colorado author, rancher and state senator who wrote popular histories of the Western Slope. His books cover the Gunnison, Uncompahgre and North Fork valleys, the Ute people, and the tales of lawmen and outlaws. Western Reflections Publishing carries five of his books, with original works dating from 1938 into the 1960s and our editions published from 1998 to 2011.
About Wilson Rockwell
The finding aid for the Wilson M. Rockwell papers at the University of Colorado Boulder describes him as a Colorado author, rancher and politician. It lists him as a state senator for Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel and Dolores counties, and notes that he wrote many newspaper articles and hosted several radio programs, along with a television series called Uncompahgre Frontier. Library records for The Utes: A Forgotten People also call him a former Colorado senator who researched extensively and interviewed many people.
His book list in that finding aid includes New Frontier from 1938, The Utes: A Forgotten People from 1956, and Memoirs of a Lawman from 1962, which he edited. The Western Reflections description of New Frontier says he waited almost twenty years before his next popular history of the Western Slope and became a highly respected state senator and historian in between. We have not found a longer published biography, so we will not add details we cannot source.
Books
Doc Shores - an authorized reprint of Memoirs of a Lawman
Here Rockwell rebuilds the life of Gunnison County sheriff Cyrus Wells Shores from his memoirs and extra research. The tales include hunting outlaws, a Missouri River steamer trip to Fort Benton, Texas cattle drives, and work as a bullwhacker and freighter.
New Frontier
Written in 1938 as a tribute to his mother, this is Rockwell's early history of west central Colorado. It follows the Gunnison, Uncompahgre and North Fork valleys through their people, and the description says most of his later work does not repeat it.
Sunset Slope
A set of twenty-two true tales from Western Colorado in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Cowboys, rustlers, politicians and lawmen all take a turn, and some of the lawmen's battles were deadly. Each tale stands by itself, so you can dip in anywhere.
Uncompahgre Country
The towns, land and people of the Uncompahgre River country, from high peaks to desert. Many of the towns are gone, but the description says Rockwell cares more about a way of life than the past. A Sage Books original from 1965, according to library records.
The Utes: A Forgotten People
Rockwell's history of the Ute bands, first published in 1956 and described as the first overall book on the Utes. He did painstaking research and many interviews, and wrote about leaders, customs, conflicts and the history of western Colorado and Utah.
What the books share
Rockwell's books keep returning to the Western Slope of Colorado. Three of them follow its river valleys and towns: New Frontier on the Gunnison, Uncompahgre and North Fork, and Uncompahgre Country on the Uncompahgre basin. Sunset Slope gathers tales of cowboys, rustlers, politicians and lawmen. The Utes looks at the people who were there first, and Doc Shores follows a sheriff of Gunnison County through his own memoirs. People and personalities lead in each, and he leaned on interviews, memoirs and local stories.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Good to know
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