Bryant was a simple, good-hearted kid Fuller sees as the essence of Wyoming--the boy who measures his manhood by his mastery of horses, guns and trucks and grows up to find his options severely circumscribed (not that he ever really considers the possibility of living outside them). Fuller's co-theme is the exploitation of these hardworking, bedrock kinds of people by the outrageously wealthy oil industry--hiring men only part-time so they have no rights and, when injured, can be fired, and taking every conceivable shortcut along the way to make injury inevitable. At age 26, with a wife and two young children, Colton suffers a fall in the dark that leaves a hole in his head and his family with the decision to remove him from life support. The oil company representatives have, of course, worked out through many similar cases how to avoid paying damages. ( )

I just finished this and boy did I cry! My cat was sitting on my lap and got quite damp when I got to the funeral and how they put ketchup packets in Colton's pockets and a toy horse in the coffin.

This is not something I would have normally read but was recommended to me. Alexandra Fuller has dug beneath the surface of what seems to be an unremarkable part of the world and into an ordinary seeming family and came up with a diamond in disguise.

Colton was an extraordinary guy. A tough cowboy with a heart of gold and a helping hand to any who needed it.

I hope Ultra Petroleum and the whole drilling industry get a hard kick up the arse from the exposure of their greed and indifferent attitude to their occupational health and safety standards. Furthermore, I hope this book exposes what they are doing to the environment in such breathtakingly beautiful places like Wyoming and Montana.

I loved this book although it has a sad ending. A true book about a young boy growing up in Wyoming and all he ever wanted was to be just like his dad who worked on the oil rigs. He loved the mountains, hunting and fishing, and just spending time outdoors. ( )

Didn't read the whole book but am done. Very well written but too dark for me at present. ( )

Alexandra Fuller is the author of the best selling book “Don’t Let’s Go, To The Dogs Tonight,” a memoir about her childhood in Africa during the war in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Fuller’s next book, “Scribbling the Cat,” creatively retraced the Zimbabwe war through the eyes of a soldier. More recently Fuller has written about a life closer to Moffat County and to her home in Wyoming titled “The Legend of Colton H. Bryant.”

Colton Bryant grew up in the high plains of Evanston, Wyo. He was teased at school, but Colton learned how to cope by reciting his motto, “Mind over matter. I don’t mind, so it don’t matter.”

Growing up in a home where manners, hard work and hunting were taught, Colton didn’t dream of moving away or going to college. He came from a line of roughnecks — slang for oil workers — and that was where Colton knew he would end up.

Fuller does a great job at explaining the parts of an oil patch or rig and Colton’s first job is a flow tester; a boring, uneventful job for Colton. But he stuck with it because his best friend, Jake, was there.

Jake stayed on the rig because Colton had a way of making life exciting; like the time Colton flagged down a train when the boys were stuck with a broken down four-wheel drive. Or the time Colton brought his date, Melissa, to shoot off four hundred dollars worth of fireworks he and Jake had bought.

At 23 years old, Colton applied for a new job with Patterson-UTI and got a job as a floor hand. Then, he asked Melissa to marry him.

When Colton found out Melissa was pregnant, he comments, “Mess’n around days are over. It’s gonna get more serious from here on out.”

Roughnecking and marriage didn’t match up like the young couple hoped it would. A man who works on the rigs lives his life two weeks on and two weeks off.

Soon after Colton’s son was born, Melissa begged Colton to try a new line of work. Colton tried but after two months he convinced himself and Melissa that he was safer on the oil patch then driving on the highway.

Even though two men died due to safety hazards at Patterson-UTI, Colton still returned to the oil field.

On Feb. 14, 2006, Colton fell from the oil rig. The oil patch was new and he wasn’t wearing safety equipment. Colton was rushed to a Salt Lake City hospital. Friends and family came to say good-bye to Colton before he is taken off the ventilator.

Jake drove through a snowstorm to get to his best friend. Jake prayed for Colton and said his good-bye’s. Colton’s father said he loved him and than Colton let go; his heart stopped beating.

Colton’s family never saw any money because of the circumstances of his death. Patterson-UTI’s was fined more than $7,000 dollars for the six safety violations that could have prevented Colton’s death. This meager amount meant nothing to the company that cleared more than five million dollars in 2006.

More than half of the deaths occurring in the oil and gas company field happen in Wyoming. But that harsh, fierce land breeds men like Colton; men that continue in their father’s footsteps as “white oil field trash.” ( )