Long Line Rider The period covered in Long Line Rider is eight years from 1893 to 1902. This lively family story is based upon Jim Crouch's pioneering ride in the Race of 1893, and subsequent homesteading experiences. The conclusion is after the turn of the century party, and Jim and Lizzie welcome in the new era with ever-fresh hopes and dreams, and the blessed arrival of a son, following three girls in a row. On September 16, 1893 Jim Crouch, former cowboy and drover, waits in the long line of riders on the Kansas border with the Cherokee Outlet of Oklahoma Territory for the signal to begin the race for free government land. Two strangers, Josh Montgomery, and Hank Hartner join him in the swirling dust and swarms of flies. Jim steers them to where he's going. At the crack of rifles that start the race, Jim sets the pace on his swift horse, Barney, ahead of most other contestants. He finds the benchmark of the quarter section of land he was headed towards and stakes his claim. That night Jim outwits two claim-jumpers, and rescues an injured Hank Hartner, and helps him to find a claim nearby. After their claims are registered in Alva, they meet up with Josh Montgomery, who takes the injured Hank to his own place. While Hank waits in a saloon, Josh discovers a stabbed man. Meanwhile, Jim returns to Kansas to bring his family back to his homestead in their heavily loaded wagon. Some days later, they are joined by his wife's father who has bought a claim next to Jim's. Thus begin the years of farming intertwined with both joys and tragedies for the young family who must live for a few years in a dugout before they can complete their handsome frame house. The stories include farming practices, butchering, food processing and preparation, social events such as family get-togethers, children's activities, a wedding, a hoedown, box suppers, fashions of the day, current events and political news.
About the Author: THE AUTHOR Gladys Iris Crouch Clark was born December 30, 1895 on the claim her father won in the 1893 Cherokee Strip Race near Alva, Oklahoma, the third of eleven children of Jim Crouch and Lizzie Bevis Crouch. The stories in Long Line Rider of growing up in a pioneer family on a homestead in Oklahoma Territory are those told to her by her father and other family members, and her own recollections. The author first attended Northwest Normal School, Alva, Oklahoma while working in her father[s restaurant. In 1912 she was sent to Wichita, Kansas to attend Mt. Carmel Academy. After returning home, and refusing to work in the restaurant, she took the Santa Fe train from Alva to Kansas City, Missouri, to stay with her Aunt Vena. On the train, she met and later married the man of her dreams, Charles Henry Clark. In 1920 the couple moved to Hollywood, California, where Charles Clark practiced law for twenty-two years. The Clarks left Hollywood in 1941 for the life of ranchers on their 360-acre ranch in San Diego County, California. Over the years their growing curiosity and thirst for archaeological knowledge led them in search of antiquities and archaeological sites on five continents. Her articles on their journeys were published in several magazines and earned her a Eugene Field award for her article on the Andes of South America. In 1936, Paramahansa Yogananda, the great East Indian spiritual leader initiated Iris, (as she preferred to be called). She developed a deep and knowledgeable interest in comparative religions. After her husband died in 1977, she moved to Sedona, Arizona to began her in-depth study in classes taught by Lehman Hisey on "The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch." by Dr. J. J. Hurtak. When Mr. Hisey retired, Dr. Hurtak appointed her to teach and write on the "Keys," culminating in her book, "Forever Young," published in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1987 with a second edition published in 1990 in Sedona, Arizona. This remarkable woman, still full of love and laughter, died at 103 1/2 in July of 1999.