At the age of nine Claude began a new chapter in a life full of exploits as his family trekked from Wise County to Greer County Texas to homestead, unaware that sixty years later this same event would open another chapter of his life. C. L. Fallwell the Old Man from the Country is a humorous and autobiographical look at a "go getter" of a man full of adventure and stories to tell. With stories spanning a lifetime he narrates chapter after chapter of frontier-living around the turn of the century. Claude's boyhood experiences include river crossings, bull-fights, homesteading north of Mangum, Oklahoma, ranching, farming, Indian encounters, school teachers, hunting, being "man of the house" and running away from home. In his teen years he goes "up the trail" on cattle drives and is "promoted" to camp cook when the boys are fed up with the old cookie. While spending long months away from home, he prepares an unprecedented variety of chuck including both traditional meals such as SOB stew as well as the unexpected such as iced layer-cakes and various pies. In addition to feeding as many as one hundred cowpokes at a time, he acts as doctor, nurse, veterinarian and even host for visiting wives. After months on the drive, he is afforded the opportunity to visit Kansas City where he finds just the thing he needs to woo his girl back home. Always ready for an adventure, Claude moves his wife and new-born son to New Mexico where he homesteads, opens a store, and is vehemently accused of robbing the train mail car. As if to remove any doubt, he soon becomes a lawman and witnesses a sad story of jealousy and betrayal which leaves a broken family. Later, with the economy failing and their land and house repossessed, he moves to the Pacific Northwest to care for an acquaintance's rural property. After packing and selling what would not fit in three steamer trunks, the family of five boards the train for Portland, Oregon, and then a steamer down the coast to Myrtle Point, where they lived for several years. Claude encounters wildlife of all kinds while living, hunting and fishing in rural Oregon. Never content to stay in one place or do one thing too long, he moves to Montana to run a grocery store, Idaho to work on a fruit farm, and finally back to Oregon a second time as a preacher. Years later, Claude starts his last great adventure by opening a grocery store in La Grande, Oregon. As he is a natural spell-binding story-teller, he is easily convinced to use serial stories about the Old Man from the Country to advertise the Half Way Market in the local paper. As he recounts his life each week in the classified section, he quickly gains a following and enjoys a moment of fame and generosity. Gathered here are the delightful autobiographical tales of C. L. Fallwell the Old Man from the Country.