Way Before Daylight Book

With the title of “Way Before Daylight, Long After Dark: A New Mexico Rancher’s Story,” the 316-page book is the twelfth published by the Lea County Museum in the last nine years.  The book contains dozens of images, including family photographs, maps, and drawings by Mike Capron, Joe Hobbs, and one photograph by Gordon Snidow.

Johnson has been writing the book for several years, and it contains chapters about many of the cowboys and ranchers he has known and with whom he has worked. In addition, the book briefly chronicles the lives of some of his near and distant relatives on both sides of his family and for several generations.
“Way Before Daylight” is an LCM companion to the Lane-Johnson Room, which opened two years ago, on the second floor of the Commercial Hotel.

In photographs, maps, and memorabilia, the room relates stories of family members in both the Johnson and Lane families.