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Russell Ferrell

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Russell Ferrell is a non-fiction, historical writer who was working on several historical projects, including a book on barbarians and their legacy to the modern world, when he decided to back-shelf them and take up the challenge of writing the true story of Cephis Hall and Sid Love, two backwoods naturalists who discovered and excavated Oklahoma’s State Dinosaur (the Acrocanthosaurus) in southeastern Oklahoma. The book, titled The Bone War of McCurtain County, features their long ordeal and battles with a giant timber corporation and its friends in government and academia over ownership rights to the treasure. His book, The Bone War of McCurtain County, was a finalist in the IAW 2018 Book Awards Contest
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Ferrell, a graduate of Texas A&M University, has worked as an educator, journalist, home builder, and cattle rancher. He currently lives in Red Oak, Texas, with his wife Waynetta and their four dogs and four cats. Before moving to Texas, he owned and operated a cattle ranch north of Durant, Oklahoma.
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The Bone War of McCurtain County - A True Tale of Two Men's Quest for Treasure,
​Truth and Justice

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Non-Fiction, History, Biography, Adventure

The Bone War of McCurtain County is a true story about two backwoods naturalists, Arkansas hillbilly Cephis Hall and Choctaw Indian Sid Love, who discovered and excavated a world-class dinosaur specimen and were thence forced to battle the corporate landowner, two ma jor universities, elite scientists, the Oklahoma State Legislature and prominent politicians, all determined to sweep them out of the picture and confiscate their treasure. 
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After securing permission and digging four years, they recovered the trophy from a toxic waste-holding pit in southeastern Oklahoma. Their dinosaur, worth millions if it could be saved, was an apex predator as big and ferocious as mighty T. rex, but lived 50 million years earlier. The discovery placed the two grizzled Okies at the crossroads of science, politics, and religion. A tale of mystery, adventure, nature—Indiana Jones Southern style.

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