Lone Cone Library

On the trail to Hangtree, a gang of bandits give chase to a teenage gunslinger. Young Bill is bracing for the end when the crack of a Winchester scatters the bandits. Sam Heller, Hangtree lawman, has saved another life. And Bill will beg Heller to save one more. Bill rode in from East Texas, where Cullen Baker, the original quick-draw artist, fights a life-and-death battle with a corrupt robber baron for control of the Torrent River. Bill came seeking...

Water policy

Former politician Daniel Sheridan sees a scandal from his past resurface when he returns to his hometown to resolve a battle over water rights.

The Milagro Beanfield War is the first book in John Nichols's New Mexico trilogy ("Gentle, funny, transcendent." —The New York Times Book Review), later adapted to film by Robert Redford.
Joe Mondragon, a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble, slammed his battered pickup to a stop, tugged on his gumboots, and marched into the arid patch of ground. Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the main

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"Making extensive use of archival and other primary sources, David Schorr demonstrates that the development of the 'appropriation doctrine,' a system of private rights in water, was part of a radical attack on monopoly and corporate power in the arid West. Schorr describes how Colorado miners, irrigators, lawmakers, and judges forged a system of private property in water based on a desire to spread property and its benefits as widely as possible among...

"When land promoter Rodney Gallant comes to Nebraska and tries to tie up water rights around Silver Lake, Jim Carlin hoped to head off trouble peacefully with a ranchers' meeting until a bushwhacker's bullet tried to keep him from the meeting. Now it's obvious that trouble is already there and Gallant is willing to use violence to get what he wants"--Provided by publisher.

Water law, water politics, and especially water shenanigans are at the center of this book about New Mexico and Texas dividing the Pecos River. On one level the story is about a twenty-year court case, Texas v. New Mexico, a monstrous law suit between two states sharing a common water source, a state boundary, and a long history of mutual enmity. On another level, this story is as big and far-reaching as the high plains drained by the Pecos: it is...

"Shay Billings was pleasantly surprised at discovering a new bridge over the river, as it cut several miles from his trip into town. After being ambushed and left for dead, he has even more cause to be grateful when the bridge-builder saves his life. Shay's savior turns out to be a mysterious young woman with extraordinary skills. More importantly, she's a strong ally when he and a few other men are forced to defend themselves and their ranches against...