The Rocking P Ranch was one of the most ambitious family ranches in Southern Alberta. Founded in 1900 by Roderick Riddle Macleary, the Rocking P flourished during the Second Cattle Frontier as open-range the Texas System ranches failed.

Beginning in 1923, Maxine and Dorothy Macleay edited, reported, and published The Rocking P Gazette, a monthly newspaper grounded in the daily life of the Rocking P. Ranch. With an audience of their parents and relatives, cowpunchers, teachers, and cooks, the 12- and 14-year-old sisters set out to create a family newspaper that reflected as closely as possible the commercial publications of the time. With sections for local news, advertisements, riddles, poetry, and contributions from Macleay ranch hands, The Rocking P Gazette brings the family ranch to life.

Clay Chattaway and Warren Elofson draw upon this remarkable resource to explore the Second Cattle Frontier and to tell the story of the Rocking P Ranch. Through the lens of The Rocking P Gazette, Chattaway and Elofson detail not only a system of agricultural production, but a way of life that continues to this day.

Clay Chattaway is a cattle rancher and grandson of Roderick Riddle Macleay. With his wife, Avril, three sons and their families, Clay operates the 20 000 acre Bar S. Ranch in the Porcupine Hills west of Nanton, Alberta.

Clay Chattaway's profile page

Warren Elofson is a professor, and former head, of the history department at the University of Calgary, where he has taught since 1986. He has written several books on British and western Canadian history, including Somebody Else's Money: The Walrond Ranch Story, 1883-1907 (2009) and Frontier Cattle Ranching in the Land and Times of Charlie Russell (2004). Much of Dr. Elofson's expertise in western Canadian agriculture comes from many years of personal experience ranching and farming in Alberta.

Warren Elofson's profile page

This fascinating account, enriched by the artwork of Dorothy and Maxine Macleay, serves as a reminder that young people are often astute observers and commentators.

Bill Waiser, distinguished professor emeritus, University of Saskatchewan

A great collaboration that brings family ranch history to life!

Richard W. Slatta, professor of History, North Carolina State University

A lively account of the Rocking P. Ranch and southern Alberta ranching life in the first half of the twentieth century.

Donald Smith, professor emeritus, University of Calgary