C. Emerson Law

C. Emerson Law was conceived on a 160-acre Alaska homestead that his dad was able to get under a special program afforded for World War Two Veterans. Life was not easy in Alaska in those days. His dad’s dream of having a big cattle ranch did not happen due to hungry Grizzly bears and the almost impossible task of keeping the cattle safe. His dad decided not to put his wife through another pregnancy in such primitive circumstances. They moved to Denver, Colorado just before Emerson was born. They were living in a home that was a converted chicken coop at the time, being unable to find anything better before the birth of their fifth child, Emerson. Ten months later they moved to a little town near Durango, Colorado where they had a run-down house on two acres. There was no indoor plumbing, so Emerson grew up using an outhouse, splitting kindling, hauling buckets of coal into the house for heat and cooking, and pumping water from the outside well and carrying the buckets inside. He also had to take turns emptying “the thunder mug” (otherwise known as the chamber pot) outside in the mornings, they all took baths in a metal tub with water heated on the wood/coal cookstove. He grew up poor, but never realized that he was poor because there was always fresh meat and garden grown vegetables and fruit on the table. He learned the value of hard word since everyone had to pitch in taking care of the garden, fruit trees, livestock, and irrigating the pasture. There was always love and happiness in their home, no matter what the financial situation was, and there was always time to ride the neighbor's horses, usually bareback, and explore the woods nearby. They had a Welch Pony for a while. It was an ornery and lazy little stink that didn’t like to be ridden. It would buck you off without a moment’s notice! He is a Viet Nam era Marine Corps veteran and has worked as an aircraft mechanic, dairy farmer, rural letter carrier, Halliburton oilfield worker, and jack of all trades for a natural gas company. He finally retired and decided to try his hand at writing classic Western fiction, inspired by his grandfather who wrote his life’s story when he was 85 years old. He has been divorced twice and has three grown sons and one grandson. He currently lives contentedly alone in Nevada on two acres of ground where he enjoys using his tractor and planting things that would never grow in Alaska. He also loves his hobby of gold prospecting in the Nevada hills.