Author inspired by cowboy ancestors, 'Old Jules'

Former McCook resident Bryan Jones has published his third book, and calls it “North of the Platte, South of the Niobrara: A Little Further into the Nebraska Sand Hills.” Jones taught reading and spelling at McCook Junior High from 1987 until 2007, “the best job I ever had,” he writes. Jones and his wife, Kathy, live in the central Colorado Rockies. Their Westie “Finlay” accompanied Jones on many of his research treks into the Sand Hills.

Courtesy photo

CENTRAL COLORADO ROCKIES, Colo. — Author Bryan Jones can trace his early interest in the Nebraska Sand Hills to the cowboy side of his family and to a copy of “Old Jules.”

The cowboys of the Sand Hills and Mari Sandoz’s stories of the Hills’ people and places sparked a fascination that Jones shares in his third book, describing the sand dunes of Nebraska in the title, “North of the Platte, South of the Niobrara: A Little Further into the Nebraska Sand Hills.”

Bryan writes of the land: “For me, the Sand Hills … have, as they do for many, an almost mystical presence. The dunes are always moving, little bitty grains of sand skittering through the grass, but the dunes never seem to move. Solid as any mountain, they sit in absolute silence, except for an occasional bird cry, with countless other silent dunes melding into a mysterious horizon beyond.”

Of the people of Nebraska’s heartland, he writes: “Good manners were a given, honesty was a given, hard work was a given, personal courage was a given, stoicism was a given.”

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Bryan remembers as a young boy, “I was fascinated with the cowboy boots and hats” worn by his mother’s relatives from Tryon, Ringgold and Stapleton who came to the yearly family picnics in the 1950’s. Most of the other relatives were farmers and wore dress clothes and snap brim hats to the picnics, he said.

Bryan remembers, too, that his maternal grandfather always bragged on two of his brothers who left Franklin County for the Sand Hills. “ … how smart they were and how much land they’d accumulated.” Bryan says his grandfather was a farmer and did okay for himself, “but at heart, he was a stockman … and he thought running cattle on good grass and having to own and repair only one set of farm equipment (haying) was a better formula for success.”

Bryan’s curiosity about the Hills continued to grow when, as a junior high kid, he read Mari Sandoz’s book, “Old Jules.” He was hooked on Sandoz’s writing and on the western Sand Hills. “I read every Sandoz book I could get my hands on, and the reverence Sandoz had for the hills and the inhabitants stuck,” Bryan said.

Bryan has written two books, “The Farming Game” and “Mark Twain Made Me Do It & Other Plains Adventures,” and in the back of his mind, for many years, were the seeds of a third. “Even before I retired from teaching, the Sand Hills writing project kept surfacing as the next logical book. The general plan was to follow my nose,” visiting the land and the people who could answer his questions:

Does Ted Turner’s bison operation make money or is it an expensive hobby?

Is the Ogallala Aquifer under the Sand Hills threatened by irrigation in Texas?

How would bull riders who rode before million dollar purses and private jets view the current class of bulls and riders?

Whatever happened to the descendants of Old Jules?

Why are the Mormons buying up all the grass?

After 12 years, 70,000 miles and 370 interviews, Bryan crafted the answers to his questions into the chapters of the book he named “North of the Platte.”

The book covers the Hills’ history — “Kinkaid Act,” “A Kinkaider Comes and Stays.”

In “Judge Moursund,” Bryan conveys the disappointment and sadness when someone doesn’t understand or appreciate the unique Hills.

“Celia’s Kitchen” answers questions about the Sandoz descendants.

In “Mr. Water” and “The Dune Guy,” Bryan visits with the hydrologist “who knows more about the Ogallala Aquifer than anyone living or dead” and the UNL geologist who explains the origins and physical history of the Sand Hills.

Bryan also explores “Bull Riders” and “Mormon Cows.”

Bryan said his hope was that a mosaic of different stories would create new understandings for people who didn’t have intimate knowledge of the Sand Hills and would also be of interest to residents who wanted to know more about the people and places surrounding them.

Bryan insists that he met “only a handful of 14-carat jackasses” during his visits to the Sand Hills and that the people in the book who helped along the way were “some of the best human beings I’ve ever met. It would not be an exaggeration to say the people of the Nebraska Sand Hills renewed my faith in humanity.”

Bryan concluded, “Friends have claimed the Sand Hills have the power to heal, both mental and physical afflictions. I would not want to argue with them.”

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For more information on “North of the Platte” or to order copies, go to www.brynjoneswriter.com or call (719) 836-3202.