William MacLeod Raine
Encyclopedia
William MacLeod Raine was a British-born American
novelist who wrote fictional adventure stories about the American Old West
.
when Macleod was ten years old, eventually settling on a cattle ranch near the Texas-Arkansas border. In 1894, after graduating from Oberlin College, Macleod left Arkansas and headed for the western U.S. He became the principal of a school in Seattle while contributing columns to a local newspaper. After leaving Seattle, he moved to Denver, where he worked as a reporter and editorial writer for local periodicals, including the Republican, the Post, and the Rocky Mountain News. At this time he began to publish short stories, eventually becoming a full time free lance fiction writer, and finally finding his literary home in the novel. His earliest novels were romantic histories taking place in the English countryside. However, after spending some time with the Arizona Rangers, Macleod shifted his literary focus and began to utilize the American West as a setting. The publication of Wyoming in 1908 marks the beginning of his prolific career, during which time he averaged nearly two western novels a year until his death in 1954. In 1920 he was awarded an M.L. degree from the University of Colorado where he had established that school's first journalism course. During the First World War 500,000 copies of one of his books were sent to British soldiers in the trenches. Twenty of his novels have been filmed. Despite his prolificness, he was a slow, careful, conscientious worker, intent on accurate detail, and considered himself a craftsman rather than an artist.
In 1905 Mr. Raine married Jennie P. Langley, who died in 1922. In 1924 he married Florence A Hollingsworth: they had a daughter. Though he traveled a good deal, Denver was considered his home.
William MacLeod Raine died on July 25, 1954 and is buried at Fairmount Cemetery
in Denver, Colorado.
He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1959.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist who wrote fictional adventure stories about the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
.
Life
William MacLeod Raine was born in London, the son of William and Jessie Raine. After his mother died, his family migrated from England to ArkansasArkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
when Macleod was ten years old, eventually settling on a cattle ranch near the Texas-Arkansas border. In 1894, after graduating from Oberlin College, Macleod left Arkansas and headed for the western U.S. He became the principal of a school in Seattle while contributing columns to a local newspaper. After leaving Seattle, he moved to Denver, where he worked as a reporter and editorial writer for local periodicals, including the Republican, the Post, and the Rocky Mountain News. At this time he began to publish short stories, eventually becoming a full time free lance fiction writer, and finally finding his literary home in the novel. His earliest novels were romantic histories taking place in the English countryside. However, after spending some time with the Arizona Rangers, Macleod shifted his literary focus and began to utilize the American West as a setting. The publication of Wyoming in 1908 marks the beginning of his prolific career, during which time he averaged nearly two western novels a year until his death in 1954. In 1920 he was awarded an M.L. degree from the University of Colorado where he had established that school's first journalism course. During the First World War 500,000 copies of one of his books were sent to British soldiers in the trenches. Twenty of his novels have been filmed. Despite his prolificness, he was a slow, careful, conscientious worker, intent on accurate detail, and considered himself a craftsman rather than an artist.
In 1905 Mr. Raine married Jennie P. Langley, who died in 1922. In 1924 he married Florence A Hollingsworth: they had a daughter. Though he traveled a good deal, Denver was considered his home.
William MacLeod Raine died on July 25, 1954 and is buried at Fairmount Cemetery
Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)
Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado was founded in 1890 and is Denver's second oldest operating cemetery after Riverside Cemetery. It was designed by German landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze...
in Denver, Colorado.
He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1959.
Works
- A daughter of Raasay: a tale of the '45 (1904)
- Wyoming: a story of the outdoor West (1908)
- Ridgway of Montana: a story of today, in which the hero is also the villain (1909)
- A Texas Ranger (1910)
- Bucky O'Connor: A tale of the unfenced border (1910)
- Mavericks (1911)
- Brand Blotters (1911)
- Crooked Trails and Straight (1913)
- The Vision Splendid : A Story of Today (1913)
- The Pirate of Panama: A tale of the fight for buried treasure (1914)
- A Daughter of the Dons : A Story of New Mexico Today (1914)
- The Highgrader (1915)
- Steve Yeager (1915)
- Yukon Trail: A Tale of the North (1917)
- The Sheriff's Son (1917)
- A Man Four-Square (1919)
- The Big-Town Round-Up (1920)
- Oh, You Tex! (1920)
- Gunsight Pass: How Oil Came to the Cattle Country and Brought a New West (1921)
- Tangled Trails: A Western Detective Story (1921)
- Man Size (1922)
- The Fighting Edge (1922)
- Iron Heart (1923)
- Desert Feud (1924)
- The Desert's Price (1924)
- Troubled Waters (1925)
- Roads of Doubt (1925)
- Bonanza: A Story of the Gold Trail (1926)
- Return of the Range Rider (1926)
- Judge Colt (1927)
- Texas Man (1928)
- Colorado (1928)
- Cattle, cowboys and rangers (1930)
- The Valiant (1930)
- Beyond the Rio Grande (1931)
- Rutledge Trails the Ace of Spades (1931)
- Under Northern Stars (1932)
- The Black Tolts (1932)
- Pistol Pardners (1932)
- The Broad Arrow (1933)
- For Honor and Life (1933)
- The Trail of Danger (1934)
- Square Shooter (1934)
- Roaring River (1934)
- Border Breed (1935)
- Run of the Brush (1936)
- To Ride the River With (1936)
- King of the Bush (1937)
- Bucky Follows a Cold Trail (1937)
- On The Dodge (1938)
- Sons of the Saddle (1938)
- The River Bend Feud (1939)
- Moran Beats Back (1938)
- Guns of the Frontier; The story of how law came to the West (1940)
- Riders of Buck River (1940)
- Trail's End (1940)
- They Called Him Blue Blazes (1941)
- 45-caliber law; the way of life of the frontier peace officer (1941)
- Clattering Hoofs (1942)
- Justice Deferred (1942)
- Texas Breed, a Western Novel (1942)
- The Damyank (1942)
- Hell and High Water (1943)
- Gone to Texas (1943)
- Courage Stout (1944)
- The Fighting Tenderfoot (1944)
- Famous Sheriffs & Western Outlaws (1944)
- Who wants to live forever? (1945)
- Tough Tenderfoot (1945)
- Powdersmoke Feud: original title: This nettle danger (1945)
- Challenge to Danger (1947)
- Cry Murder (1947)
- Arizona Guns (1947)
- The Bandit Trail (1947)
- Ranger's Luck (Whipsaw) (1949)
- Jingling Spurs (1950)
- The River Bend Feud (1950)
- Glory Hole: A rousing tale of Leadville in the frontier days (1951)
- West of the Law (1951)
- Saddlebum (1951)
- Justice comes to Tomahawk (1952)
- Dry bones in the valley (1953)
- Rustler's Gap (1953)
- Guns of the Frontier (1954)
- Reluctant Gunman (1954)
- High Grass Valley (1955)