SOURCE: A review of Why the Chisholm Trail Forks, and Other Toles of the Cattle Country in Midwest Folklore, Vol. VII, No. 4, Winter, 1957, pp. 245-46.

[In the following excerpt Porter characterizes the stories in Adams's collection Why the Chisholm Trail Forks as simple but convincing narratives.]

Andy Adams (1859-1935) was, like Sam Bass, a Hoosier who became a Texas cowboy. When over forty, he began writing out of his first-hand knowledge of the range and the trail and ultimately produced seven books. His first, The Log of a Cowboy (1903), is generally recognized as one of the best portrayals of trail-driving days ever published, despite the fact that, although often taken for autobiography, it is actually a novel.

Andy Adams's volumes have long been out of print, except for a truncated version of the Log, and, since one of their most important and characteristic features is their camp-fire tales...