Grant county jumps in June. This is probably our busiest month with so much going on that it's hard to keep track of it all. The big thing in Canyon City is the '62 Days Celebration. We always have a parade of course and this year we had some historical enactments, a pancake feed and a street fair. It was enough to make some of my neighbors hide out in the brush by Canyon Creek. The following weekend we had the annual Chief Joseph Rally of the Oregon BMW motorcycle owners club. And then the next weekend we had a performance by Della Mae by the light of a full moon at the Diamond Hitch ranch in Kimberly. Of course, from my perspective the biggest news is the bookstore and this week we are offering a special bit of western history-a copy of The Virginian, the first western. The book itself is in fair condition but that is not what makes it historic in its own right. This particular book was owned by and inscribed inside by Henry E. Dosch, someone who had lived the history that Owen Wister tried to record just as it was fading away. I have no record of what Henry thought of the book but inside the back cover are some calculations, almost certainly penciled in by one of his children in 1932 comparing the times of the cowboy to the time that had passed since. So we have a book about history with a history. I am in no hurry to sell it but it is on offer at the bookstore.

The Busy Season

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