"An overlooked rangeland classic . . . well written and good reading." -Don Russell, Westerners Brand Books.

"Bratt's story is a minor classic because of the raw but credible frontier adventures of a young English emigrant."---Merrill J. Mattes.

John Bratt's 1921 book "Trails of Yesterday," is among the greatest first-hand accounts of cattle ranching on the northern Great Plains during the wild time of the 1870s and 1880s. His book is the memoirs of a rancher on the Nebraska frontier plains, and gives a window into life on the Western cattle country as well as his youthful adventures in traversing the Great Platte River Road while avoiding attack from Indians.

Bratt (1842-1918) was born in England and came to the U.S. at age 22, joining in 1866 a wagon train going from Nebraska City, Nebraska, to Fort Phil Kearny, working as a bullwhacker supplying Ft. Kearny and other Army posts. Bratt gives an authentic look at the country along the Great Platte River Road, noting the condition of the trail, and run-ins with buffalo and Indians such as Dull Knife.

In describing one encounter with Dull Knife's band, Bratt writes:

"We had all but eight of the wagons across when a small party of Indians (maybe twenty), mounted and carrying spears in addition to the customary bows and arrows, came charging at breakneck speed out of the adjacent hills and with a war whoop rode close up to the eight teams and commenced to shoot arrows at the teamsters and the cattle, sending some of their arrows into the flanks and sides of the cattle...."

Another tense encounter took place with an Indian named "Big Mouth":

"The next moment I was brought to my sense of danger by hearing the war-whoop yell. I imagine I can hear that yell as I sit penning these lines. It was given in earnest and with vigor. Had I been a black-haired man I think my hair would have turned white as they came galloping toward me. Fortunately I had tightened the cinch on my saddle. I heard one voice, that I recognized as Big Mouth's, yell in Sioux: 'Stop, Yellow Hair. We have you now!' I had sent my spurs into my horse's flanks . . ."

Interestingly Bratt gives accounts of the frontier forts used for protecting the long trail, including Forts McPherson, Kearny, Mitchell, and Sedgwick-as well as the cattle ranches of John Burke and the famous Jack Morrow, among others.

Bratt was a cattle rancher for more than 20 years, starting his cattle ranching venture in 1870. The majority of his narrative is devoted to the development of the ranching industry on the Great Plains.

Bratt's book is a well-regarded historical source, and is cited by the following modern works:

• Trails South: The Wagon-road Economy in the Dodge City-Panhandle Region, C. Robert Haywood - 2006

• The Great Plains Guide to Buffalo Bill: Forts, Fights & Other Sites, Jeff Barnes - 2014

• Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Volume 2, Philip A. Greasley - 2016

• The Cattlemen: From the Rio Grande Across the Far Marias, Mari Sandoz – 1978

• The Great Platte River Road: The Covered Wagon Mainline Via Fort, Merrill J. Mattes – 1987

• Wyoming's Pioneer Ranches, Robert Homer Burns 1955

• North from Texas: Incidents in the Early Life of a Range Cowman, James Clay Shaw – 1996

• Nebraska history: an annotated bibliography, Michael L. Tate – 1995