The Concho Country.

San Antonio, Texas:: Mulberry Avenue Books, January, 1981.. 1st Printing.. Hardbound . BINDING/CONDITION: cream colored cloth; a Very Good book, with a Very Good dust jacket.. 4to (12.25 inches tall) . Bibliography, index. Map endpapers. Description: This copy is Signed and dated by the author. Over 300 illustrations, with some in color -- maps, historic photographs and other pictures. The publisher's blurb reads: ''American pioneers moving westward in the mid-19th century encountered an extensive river system in West Texas. The pioneers named the river the 'Concho', a reference to the abundant shellfish. The land touched by the rivers, more than 12,500 square miles, they called the 'Concho Country'. Here, for the first time, is the complete story of that region. It is a story of compelling diversity, drama, and excitement. Author Gus Clements spent more than two years researching and writing this book and his meticulous attention shows throughout. This is not an academic history, but an adventure of the first order, an epic story told in fluid style. Ride alongside Comanche raiders as they plunge southward to strike terror in Mexico, chat with a grizzled teamster as the Butterfield Overland Stage and Mail rolls westward. Encounter pioneer rancher F R Tankersley and his independent wife, Annie. Watch whiskey drummers sell their wares as German mechanics construct Fort Concho. Trudge westward with Nolan's buffalo solders to horror and death on the waterless wastes of the Llano Estacado. Saddle up with cowboys on the Goodnight-Loving trail and hear the incessant bleating of the first 'woolies' as they arrive at what would become the center of the American sheep and goat industry. This also tells the story of San Angelo as it grew from a frontier saloon town into the gracious 'Queen City of the Concho.' The final chapters place you inside the driller's shack when Santa Rita No. 1 gushes in to reveal the petroleum treasures of the Permian Basin, on a World War II runway as American bomber pilots train at Goodfellow and Concho fields, high overhead for spectacular views of the construction of O.C. Fisher Dam,''