So Far and Yet so Close

Frontier Cattle Ranching in Western Prairie Canada and the Northern Territory of Australia

Table of contents

Preface

Introduction

The Short History of the Texas System in Western Canada

The Shorter History of the Texas System of Northern Australia

The Outback Frontier

The Social Environment

Producing "Fats": The Canadian West

Producing "Fats": The Northern Territory

The Horse Trade

Diversification in Western Canada: The Triumph of the Family Ranch/Farm

The Texas System at Home in Northern Australia

Conclusion: The Frontier Legacy

Appendix A: Cowboy Poetry
Appendix B: Officially Declared Droughts on the Australian Continent
Select Bibliography
Notes
Index

Description

A comparative study of frontier cattle ranching in two societies on opposite ends of the globe. It is also an environmental history that at the same time centres on both the natural and frontier environments.

Reviews

In addition to being an environmental history So Far and yet So Close is an engrossing social history.

- Ian MacLauchlan, Histoire social/Social History

Elofson goes beyond discussions of the environment to produce a social history of these regions, including his description of the rough and raucous “crew culture” that was created on the frontier by the gender imbalance of having two single young men to every woman. Compelling, too, are his accounts of the unique women who lived on the frontier — those who worked, hunted, fished, and ran ranches as part of pioneer households.

— Karine Duhamel, Canada’s History