During the early 1880s, he went to Texas, where he stayed for 10 years, spending much of that time driving cattle on the western trails.

He began writing at the age of 43, publishing his most successful book, The Log of a Cowboy, in 1903.

His other works include A Texas Matchmaker (1904), The Outlet (1905), Cattle Brands (1906), Reed Anthony, Cowman: An Autobiography (1907), Wells Brothers (1911), and The Ranch on the Beaver (1927).

Although the book is fiction, it is based on Adams's own experiences, and it is considered by many to be literature's best account of cowboy life.

The Chicago Herald said: "As a narrative of cowboy life, Andy Adams' book is clearly the real thing.