Fighting Western Novel No. 2: Under The Mesa Rim

This issue contains "Under the Mesa Rim," a Western novel by Chandler Whipple (copyright 1940, Doubleday, Doran & Company), presented here as an abridged version by Novel Selections, Inc. The story opens in the town of Los Platanos, where rancher Adam Claypool's daughter Joyce observes mounting tension between cattlemen and incoming settlers ("nesters"). A gunman named Lee seeks Claypool, but is intercepted by young cowpuncher Joel Garrison from Wyoming's Bar Sixty-Eight ranch, nearly sparking a gunfight. Joyce separates them at gunpoint. Claypool, troubled by recent developments, purchases ammunition while discussing with Joyce his decision to hire gun hands to force out the nesters who encroach on water and graze. Bollings (a lawyer) and the injured Hardee support this escalation. The narrative establishes conflict between established cattlemen protecting their holdings and the arriving settlers attempting to establish claims in the valley, with Claypool reluctant but convinced armed conflict is inevitable.