The Grit and Echoes of the Grand Staircase-Escalante ★ Cowboy Mary and the Bonds of the High Desert: Where the Roots Run Deep
Mary Bullock lived as a pioneer rancher, trail-breaker, and true cowboy of the Escalante and Grand Staircase region.
"I know what I am now: I'm a cowboy." — Elsa Dutton, 1883
The raw expanses of the Grand Staircase-Escalante demand that same realization. For Mary Bullock, navigating the unforgiving terrain of southern Utah meant trading conventional expectations for a saddle, a sharp eye, and an unyielding connection to the rugged canyons.
To understand this landscape is to understand the deep history of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument—a vast expanse of southern Utah that became a major flashpoint for a local rancher fighting to preserve her way of life.
Mary Bullock stood at the very heart of this struggle, emerging as an iconic symbol of local grit and resistance during the intense regional grazing disputes of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Mary Bullock lived as a pioneer rancher, trail-breaker, and true cowboy of the Escalante and Grand Staircase region.
She mastered a terrain defined by sandstone labyrinths, sheer cliffs and hidden riverbeds.
I first uncovered Mary’s history and learned how she came to be called Cowboy Mary in Betsy Gaines Quammen’s book, True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America. It was a profound connection, where I was honored to be included alongside her legacy in the Codex of the Last Voices.
On a visit with Shana Cox last year, she shared with me how deep the community roots and loyalties run in this country.
She recalled the time Cliven Bundy showed up in Cedar City, Utah, after government agents seized Cowboy Mary's cattle to sell at auction. By putting a whole kibosh on the sale, Cliven and others helped ensure her cattle were returned.
Shana also told me about her own perilous trip on horseback with Mary in the middle of the night to gather cattle to move, but that's a story I'll tell in the future.
Like Elsa on the banks of the Brazos, Mary Bullock looked at the raw expanses of the Grand Staircase and found her true self—defined by the grit, responsibility, and freedom of the Western Landscape.
https://reallibertymedia.com/the-grit-and-echoes-of-the-grand-staircase-escalante-cowboy-mary-and-the-bonds-of-the-high-desert-where-the-roots-run-deep
— Vincent Easley II https://reallibertymedia.com/author/https-reallibertymedia-com-author-vine