# Origin of "Meanwhile, back at the ranch"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch/160419>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 10, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch/160419 "2003-03-10T22:15:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 14

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**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch/160419/14 "2003-03-11T16:13:37Z")

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“Meantime, back at the ranch…” is actually used to start a chapter in Zane Grey’s _Riders of the Purple Sage_, and this was a serial story that first ran in **1912.**

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