Review: Chaffee of Roaring Horse - Ernest Haycox

Jim Chaffee is a young cowboy who tries to start a spread of his own, but after several bad years in a row, he loses it to the bank. Jim figures he’ll go back to riding for the neighboring ranch where he used to work, but before he can do that, he finds himself mixed up in murder, a land swindle, and a range war, as well as a romantic triangle involving a wealthy Easterner and a beautiful girl who may or may not be exactly what she seems.

CHAFFEE OF ROARING HORSE has all the elements of a traditional Western, but Ernest Haycox’s usual careful attention to character and style makes this a top-notch novel. He really puts his protagonist Jim Chaffee through the wringer, too. The guy gets shot, barely survives a stampede, has to ride some deadly rapids, nearly breaks his ankle, and gets thrown in jail and is targeted by a lynch mob. Jim is tough, though, and figures out a way to set things right.

CHAFFEE OF ROARING HORSE (the title refers to Roaring Horse River, which flows through Roaring Horse Canyon) is a fairly early effort by Haycox. It was only his second full-length novel, following FREE GRASS, and was serialized in the pulp magazine WEST in October, November, and December 1929. Doubleday published it in hardcover in 1930, and Popular Library reprinted it in paperback at least twice, the first time in 1953 with a cover by Sam Cherry (I think) and in 1958 with a cover by A. Leslie Ross. I’m pretty sure that the cover on the earlier paperback was used originally as the cover of a Thrilling Group Western pulp, but I haven’t been able to find it to confirm that.

In the past, I’ve complained about the lack of action in Ernest Haycox’s books, despite them being very well-written in general, but that’s not the case with this one. There are gunfights, fistfights, and stampedes, and Haycox doesn’t shy away from the violence and have it happen off-screen or not at all, as he sometimes does. I really enjoyed CHAFFEE OF ROARING HORSE and think it may be the best Haycox novel I’ve read so far, even though it’s one you never hear much about. If you’re a fan of traditional Westerns, I recommend it.