With this study the cattle guard joins the sod house, the windmill, and barbed wire as a symbol of range country on the American Great Plains. A U.S. folk innovation now in use throughout the world, the cattle guard functions as both a gate and a fence: it keeps livestock from crossing, but allows automobiles and people to cross freely. The author blends traditional history and folklore to trace the origins of the cattle guard and to describe how, in true folk fashion, the device in its simplest form—wooden poles or logs spaced in parallel fashion over a pit in the roadway—was reinvented and adapted throughout livestock country Hoy traces the origins of the cattle guard to flat stone stiles unique to Cornwall, England, then through the railroad cattle guard, in use in this country as early as 1836, and finally to the Great Plains where, probably in 1905, the first ones appeared on roads. He describes regional variations in cattle guards and details unusual types. He provides information on cattle-guard makers, who range from local blacksmiths and welders to farmers and ranchers to large manufacturers. In addition to documenting the economic and cultural significance of the cattle guard, this volume reveals much about early twentieth-century farm and ranch life. It will be of interest not only to folklorists and historians of agriculture and Western America, but also to many Plains-area farmers, ranchers, and oilmen.

Set in the same world as Stephen Brust's beloved Vlad Taltos books, The Phoenix Guards is a fantasy rewrite of The Three Musketeers—a swashbuckling tale of adventure. A thousand years before the birth of Vlad Taltos, the Dragaeran Empire is a hotbed of intrigue, sorcery, intrigue, wild adventure, and intrigue. For those who would be heroes, it is a delightful time to be alive—and an easy place to die. Khaavren of the House of Tiassa is a son of landless nobility, possessor of a good sword and "tolerably well-acquainted with its use." Along with three loyal friends, he enthusiastically seeks out danger and excitement. But in a realm renowned for repartee and betrayals, where power is as mutable as magic, a young man like Khaavren, newly come from the countryside, had best be wary. His life depends on it. And so does the future of Draegara. The Khaavren Romances, set in the world of Vlad Taltos's Dragaera: 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 1) 4. The Lord of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 2) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 3) The Baron of Magister Valley [standalone] At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Book 2 in the Warhammer 40,000 Mega-series, "Dawn of Fire". As the Indomitus Crusade begins, great fleets warships leave Terra on a desperate mission to stabilise Imperium Sanctus in the wake of the Great Rift. The returned primarch, Roboute Guilliman, leads a huge force towards the shrine world of Gathalamor, whose stable warp routes will allow the flotilla to spread across the beleaguered southern half of the Imperium. But grave tidings reach the Imperial Regent’s ears. Warnings from an ancient race and eerie silence from the army tasked with holding the crucial world until his arrival, lead Guilliman to send a vital mission to Gathalamor; at its head, Shield-Captain Achallor of the Adeptus Custodes. Achallor discovers a world on the brink, a beaten Imperial force and sinister agents of Abaddon the Despoiler who have unearthed an ancient evil, a weapon that when harnessed not only threatens the primarch, but perhaps the holy Throne of Terra itself…

Includes the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas, and Court of Appeals of Kentucky; Aug./Dec. 1886-May/Aug. 1892, Court of Appeals of Texas; Aug. 1892/Feb. 1893-Jan./Feb. 1928, Courts of Civil and Criminal Appeals of Texas; Apr./June 1896-Aug./Nov. 1907, Court of Appeals of Indian Territory; May/June 1927-Jan./Feb. 1928, Courts of Appeals of Missouri and Commission of Appeals of Texas.