Featuring true stories as told by Florida’s rugged pioneers who survived disease, drought, floods, and varmints to carve a lifestyle in wild Florida.    As Norman Proveaux says: “True Cow Hunters are bred, not made”.

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“The cowboy is not the dying breed he is said to be by those that drive down the highway looking for him. As Lee Marvin told Jack Palance in the 1970’s movie, ‘Monte Walsh‘: ‘As long as there is one man on one horse pushing one cow, there will always be cowboys’.”

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The true Legacies of Florida’s “cow hunters” who tamed the last frontier is recorded in their historic lessons and lifestyle, working the land as they knew it, and learning its ways. The pioneers respected the land and wildlife that gave them spiritual and economic sustenance; the gift of a unique lifestyle in an era that will never return, yet their heritage continues.

“Would Do, Could Do and Made Do,” was a way of life as the cow hunters lived through struggle and forbearance. As told in their own words and pictures, this book is a living tribute and memorial to the lessons they inscribe for future generations.

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Palmdale, a remote town in Glades County with a population less than 1,000, is on the curb of creeping urbanization.

Today, more people than Palmdale’s entire population are moving into Florida each day.

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The pioneer culture and Florida’s last wilderness is threatened by growth that exploits “blue gold” water and the land. The sprawling ranches set amidst tall cabbage palm prairies are disappearing. The cost to stay is more than the price to sell with high inheritance taxes and the evaporation of a cattle based economy.

The early pioneers forecasted Florida’s future in their own lifetime as they struggled to hold onto a way of life in a place where few chose to carve a living.

Their stories predict the high premium of development: light pollution, traffic, sewage, crime and the “napalming” of native trees replaced by “ornamental” shrubs, cement, and gated communities. They foresaw the destruction of natural eco-systems, water shortages and communities where wildlife extermination businesses spring up to destroy “pesky” intruders such as squirrels, woodpeckers, snakes and other Everglades species.

The story of Palmdale, Florida, and its people reflects a proud cultural heritage living on the edge of civilization. Palmdale is a ghost town today with only a few ranches left and the Seminole Indian Tribe living off a small market economy against the odds of metropolitan growth, dollars and political power.

This story reflects a tragic national trend threatening the survival of rural America.

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