A highly popular writer of one hundred years ago was Zane Gray. His western novels were well researched and mostly without curses. His work falls a little oddly on modern ears, though, as he would write things like, “”Get off the horse,” he ejaculated.”
Some things may be worse than curse words to some folks, as in Gray’s first and major novel, “Riders of the Purple Sage,” in which...
“The two unite to fight the evil Elder Tull and Bishop Dyer. Morality is ambiguous in this novel, as outlaws are depicted as kind and churchmen revealed to be unbending and cruel.”
Read more at http://biography.yourdictionary.com/zane-grey#m12vkDEz5U4GXLjM.99
When I lived in Arizona, I really enjoyed reading Zane Grey. For some reason, particularly remember “Under the Tonto Rim,” his book published in 1926 (maybe because I was enamored with the “Mogollon Rim” near where I lived). The book tells the story of a young lady, Lucy Watson, the daughter of a saloon-keeper. After her father’s death Lucy takes a newly created position as Welfare Instructor among a community of backwoods people in Arizona. Not your normal Zane Grey or Louis L’Amour western book. Maybe that’s what makes it special.