Checkered Courage: Chuckwagon Racing's Glass Family

Nora D.S. Robins is liaison librarian, University of Calgary Information
Resources.

Chuckwagons date from the cattle drives of the 1860s, when the wagons
were used to carry food and supplies. In 1923, professional chuckwagon
racing was born as part of the Calgary Stampede. Pulled by teams of four
horses and accompanied by outriders, the cowboys and their wagons
imitate the wild, rowdy contest in which camp cooks used to see who
could strike camp most quickly and thus be the first to the barn or
local saloon.

The Glass family of High River, Alberta, have “seen the
elephant”—four generations of drivers have experienced unrivalled
success. They have won eight World Championships and 11 Calgary Stampede
Championships. No Calgary Stampede is complete without at least one
member of the Glass family driving a chuckwagon in the Rangeland Derby.
Checkered Courage is the story of the Glass family and, in particular,
its matriarch, Iris Glass. It is a mixture of biography and
reminiscences, with wonderful stories of life in the west and in the
world of rodeos.

Horses are an integral part of Glass family. It takes great skill to
select, train, and drive chuckwagon horses, and the Glasses’ love of
horses permeates their lives. Their horsemanship skills have opened
doors to movie stunt-work (and even car stunts, but that is another
story).

Black-and-white and colour photographs, a glossary, and a short
bibliography complete the book. The author is a native Calgarian who
writes about the west. He has allowed the members of the Glass family to
tell their own stories, and thus they come alive for the reader. Anyone
who is interested in the west, the life of cowboys, and rodeos will
thoroughly enjoy this book.