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Ernest Haycox facts for kids

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Ernest James Haycox (born October 1, 1899 – died October 13, 1950) was an American writer who became famous for his exciting Western fiction stories. He wrote many novels and short stories that captured the spirit of the American West.

Ernest Haycox 1923
Haycox in 1923

Who Was Ernest Haycox?

Ernest Haycox was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 1, 1899. His parents were William James Haycox and Martha Burghardt. He went to school in both Washington and Oregon.

In 1915, when he was just 16, he joined the United States Army. He was stationed near the Mexican border in 1916. During World War I, he served in Europe. After the war, he studied at Reed College in Portland for a year. In 1923, he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon. This is where he really started writing!

In 1925, Ernest Haycox married Jill M. Chord. They had two children together.

His Amazing Writing Career

Ernest Haycox was a very busy writer. He published about 24 novels and around 300 short stories. Many of his early stories appeared in "pulp magazines." These were inexpensive magazines printed on cheap paper, full of exciting adventure stories.

Later, in the 1930s and 1940s, his stories were regularly featured in popular magazines like Collier's Weekly and The Saturday Evening Post. Even famous writers like Ernest Hemingway loved his work! Hemingway once said he read The Saturday Evening Post whenever it had a story by Ernest Haycox.

Sadly, Ernest Haycox passed away in Portland in 1950, shortly after his 51st birthday, after surgery for cancer. In 2005, the Western Writers of America group named him one of the top 24 Western authors of the 20th century.

Haycox's Stories on the Big Screen

Many of Ernest Haycox's stories were so good that they were turned into movies!

  • His short story "Stage to Lordsburg" (written in 1937) became the famous movie Stagecoach (1939). This movie was directed by John Ford and helped make John Wayne a huge star.
  • His novel Trouble Shooter (1936) was used for the movie Union Pacific (1939). This film was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea.
  • Haycox also wrote the movie script for Montana (1950), which starred Alexis Smith and Errol Flynn.

Different Kinds of Stories He Wrote

Ernest Haycox wrote many different types of stories, often set in the American West.

Stories About the American Revolution

For a few years, from 1924 to 1926, Haycox lived in New York City. He became very interested in the American Revolution. He even visited battlefields in several states to learn more. He wrote eight short stories and two longer stories (novelettes) set during this time. He was very careful to get the details right, even buying a book about military uniforms after a reader pointed out a mistake!

Stories About the Old West

Most of Haycox's stories were Westerns. He created different series of stories, like the "Burnt Creek stories" set in a fictional Oregon town. He also wrote the "New Hope stories," which appeared in Collier's magazine. These were about a trading town on the Missouri River in the 1880s. Sometimes, he even told these stories from the point of view of one of the characters.

Historical Novels

Starting in the mid-1930s, Haycox began writing novels based on real historical events. For example, his novel Trouble Shooter (1936) was inspired by a real engineer's journal about building the Union Pacific Railroad. He also wrote stories that felt like the West but weren't based on specific real places, like Trail Town, which was similar to the real town of Abilene, Kansas.

Land Rush Stories

From 1940 onwards, Haycox wrote a series of five stories for Collier's about settlers in a town called Ingrid. These stories, like "Some Were Brave" (later called "Land Rush"), focused on the challenges of settling new land.

The Mercy Family Stories

Towards the end of his career, in 1948 and 1949, Haycox wrote three stories about the Mercy family. He wrote these stories as a special way to honor pioneer mothers.

Famous Words from Haycox

"No sensible man watches his feet hit ground. He looks ahead to see what kind of ground they'll hit next." – From Pioneer Loves. Call This Land Home

Books by Ernest Haycox

Note: Many of Haycox's books and stories have been published with different titles over the years. This list shows the titles used when they were first published.

Novels

  • Free Grass (1928)
  • Chaffee of Roaring Hors (1929)
  • Whispering Range (1931)
  • Starlight Rider (1933)
  • Riders West (1934)
  • Rough Air (1934)
  • The Silver Desert (1935)
  • Trail Smoke (1936)
  • Trouble Shooter (1936)
  • Deep West (1937)
  • Sundown Jim (1937)
  • Man in the Saddle (1938)
  • The Border Trumpet (1939)
  • Saddle and Ride (1940)
  • Rim of the Desert (1940)
  • Trail Town (1941)
  • Alder Gulch (1942)
  • Action by Night (1943)
  • The Wild Bunch (1943)
  • Bugles in the Afternoon (1943)
  • Canyon Passage (1945)
  • Long Storm (1946)
  • Head of the Mountain (1952)
  • The Earthbreakers (1952)
  • The Adventurers (1954)

Short Stories and Novellas

1920s
  • "The Trap Lifters" (1922)
  • "The Coolie Catcher" (1923)
  • "A Burnt Creek Yuletide" (1924)
  • "The Ditch to Freedom" (1924)
  • "Budd Dabbles in Homesteads" (1924)
  • "When Money Went to His Head" (1924)
  • "Stubborn People" (1924)
  • "A Wooing in the Wilds" (1925)
  • "Prairie Yule" (1925)
  • "Red Knives" (1925)
  • "Light of the West" (1926)
  • "A Battle Piece" (1926)
  • "Frontier Blood" (1926)
  • "False Face" (1926)
  • "Rockbound Honesty" (1926)
  • "The Code" (1926)
  • "The Timberline Fugitive" (1927)
  • "The Gun-Shot Path" (1927)
  • "Winds of Rebellion" (1927)
  • "Drums Roll" (1927)
  • "Deserter at Valley Forge" (1927)
  • "Under Western Skies" (1927)
  • "The Belle of Sevensticks" (1927)
  • "A Rider of the High Mesa" (1927)
  • "A New Deal in Sevensticks" (1927)
  • "One Night in Blackfoot" (1927)
  • "The Man From Montana" (1927)
  • "Bound South" (1928)
  • "Starlight and Gunflame" (1928)
  • "The Octopus of Pilgrim Valley" (1928)
  • "The Desert Eye" (1928)
  • "Secret River" (1928)
  • "A Municipal Feud" (1928)
  • "The Sheriff of Crooked Rib" (1928)
  • "The Grim Canyon" (1928)
  • "Guns Up!" (1928)
  • "Sevensticks Gambler" (1928)
  • "Contention—Two Miles Ahead (1929)
  • "The Bandit from Paloma County" (1929)
  • "Renegade Law" (1929)
  • "Brand Fires on the Ridge" (1929)
  • "The Return of a Fighter" (1929)
  • "Fighting Man" (1929)
  • "Invitation by Bullet" (1929)
  • "Discovery Gulch" (1929)
  • "Night Raid" (1929)
  • "Wild Horse Lode" (1929)
  • "The Trail of the Barefoot Pony (1929)
  • "Five Hard Men" (1929)
  • "By Rope and Lead" (1929)
1930s
  • "The Killers" (1930)
  • "Pistol Gap" (1930)
  • "Son of the West" (1930)
  • "Dolorosa, Here I Come" (1931)
  • "Crossfire" (1931)
  • "Manhunt" (1931)
  • "The Gun Singer" (1931)
  • "Old Tough Heart" (1931)
  • "Ride Out!" (1931)
  • "Smoke Talk" (1931)
  • "McQuestion Rides" (1931)
  • "The Feudists" (1932)
  • "The Fighting Call" (1932)
  • "The Roaring Hour" (1932)
  • "Hang Up My Gun" (1932)
  • "Blizzard Camp" (1932)
  • "The Kid From River Red" (1932)
  • "Found Out" (1932)
  • "Breed of the Frontier" (1932)
  • "Farewell, Laramie, Farewell!" (1932)
  • "Their Own Lights" (1933)
  • "The Decision" (1933)
  • "At Wolf Creek Tavern" (1933)
  • "The Hour of Fury" (1933)
  • "Gambler's Heart" (1933)
  • "Odd Chance" (1933)
  • "Their Own Lights" (1933)
  • "Second-Money Man" (1933)
  • "Smoky Pass" (1934)
  • "Pride" (1934)
  • "The Man with Smoke Gray Eyes(1934)
  • "High Wind" (1935)
  • "Way Up the Bozeman" (1935)
  • "Make Me Believe" (1935)
  • "Against the Mob" (1935)
  • "Once and for All (1935)
  • "Born to Conquer" (1936)
  • "The Stranger" (1936)
  • "Proud People" (1936)
  • "Woman Hungry" (1937)
  • "Stage to Lordsburg" (1937)
  • "Free Land" (1937)
  • "Scout Detail" (1938)
  • "This Woman and This Man" (1938)
  • "Down the River" (1938)
  • "A Man Needs an Answer" (1938)
  • "An Interval in Youth" (1938)
  • "Blizzard" (1939)
  • "Fourth Son" (1939)
  • "The Long Years" (1939)
  • "A Girl Must Wait" (1939)
1940s and later
  • "The Drifter" (1940)
  • "The Silver Saddle" (1940)
  • "Change of Station" (1940)
  • "Room 515" (1940)
  • "On Don Jaime Street" (1940)
  • "Some Were Brave" (1940)
  • "Dark Land Waiting" (1940)
  • "The Claim Jumpers" (1940)
  • "Weight of Command" (1940)
  • "Martinet" (1941)
  • "The Quarrel" (1941)
  • "Dispatch for the General" (1942)
  • "Second Choice" (1942)
  • "Faithfully, Judith" (1942)
  • "Always Remember" (1942)
  • "A Young Man's Fancy" (1942)
  • "Skirmish at Dry Fork" (1942)
  • "Time of Change" (1942)
  • "The Colonel's Choice" (1942)
  • "Deep Winter" (1943)
  • "Paycheck" (1943)
  • "Only the Best" (1943)
  • "From the Tuality" (1943)
  • "At Anselm's" (1944)
  • "Departure" (1946)
  • "Snow in the Canyon" (1948)
  • "Mrs. Benson" (1948)
  • "Custom of the Country" (1948)
  • "Dead-Man Trail" (1948)
  • "Night of Parting" (1948)
  • "Cry Deep, Cry Still" (1948)
  • "Call This Land Home" (1948)
  • "Things Remembered" (1949)
  • "Violent Interlude" (1949)
  • "Outlaw's Reckoning" (1949)
  • "The Land That Women Hate" (1949)
  • "The Inscrutable Man" (1951)

Story and Novella Collections

  • Outlaw (1939)
  • Murder on the Frontier (1942)
  • Pioneer Loves (1948)
  • Prairie Guns (1949)
  • The Last Rodeo (1949)
  • Rough Justice (1950)
  • By Rope and Lead (1951)
  • Rawhide Range (1952)
  • Vengeance Trail (1955)
  • Winds of Rebellion (1955)
  • Gun Talk (1956)
  • Brand Fires on the Ridge (1959)
  • The Feudists (1960)
  • Best Western Stories (1960)
  • The Man From Montana (1964)
  • Outlaw Guns (1964)
  • Sixgun Duo (1965)
  • Trigger Trio (1966)
  • Powder Smoke and Other Stories (1966)
  • Guns of Fury (1967)
  • Starlight and Gunflame (1973)
  • Frontier Blood (1974)
  • Burnt Creek: A Frontier Duo (1996)
  • New Hope (1998)

Nonfiction

  • "A Persistent Writer's Success," The Writer, September 1922

Movies Based on His Work

  • Union Pacific (1939), based on Trouble Shooter (1936)
  • Stagecoach (1939), based on the short story "Stage to Lordsburg" (1937)
  • Sundown Jim (1942), based on Sundown Jim (1937)
  • Apache Trail (1942), based on the short story "Stage Station" (1939)
  • Abilene Town (1946), based on Trail Town (1941)
  • Canyon Passage (1946), based on Canyon Passage (1945)
  • Man in the Saddle (1952), based on Man in the Saddle (1938)
  • Apache War Smoke (1952), based on the short story "Stage Station" (1939)
  • Bugles in the Afternoon (1952), based on Bugles in the Afternoon (1943)
  • The Far Country (1954), based partially on Alder Gulch (1942)
  • Stagecoach (1966), based on the short story "Stage to Lordsburg" (1937)
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