From Cotton Picker to Cowboy to Cattleman: The Amazing True Story of 80 John Wallace

"As the shadows grew long and dusk was approaching, 17-year-old Daniel Webster Wallace climbed the rafters of the barn. There, he took out a pocketknife and carved his name into one of the wooden beams. Webster, as he was known to family and friends, wanted to leave a permanent mark of his being there because the next day he was saying goodbye to the Texas cotton farm where he grew up."

This ain't your typical cowboy story. That's because Daniel Webster Wallace wasn't your run-of-the-mill cowboy. Starting out as a horse wrangler, Webster (as he was called) showed he could handle horses well, and broke the rough stock ... horses with a good bit of wild in them. As he worked on numerous cattle drives, he graduated to being a full-fledged cowboy, but learned he needed to own cows to succeed.

In these pages you will find the incredible true adventure of "80 John" Wallace, who started life as a slave child on a cotton farm but went on to become one of the most respected black ranchers in Texas.

His trail wasn't easy, but with smarts, grit, the love of a good wife, and the help of other ranchers and friends, Daniel's life and legacy was an amazing success story as big as Texas and the Old West.