The Cowboy Way of Life

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

Wylie,

Cow-boys? Like African-American or Mexican-American? So they are descendants from cows and boys??

Wyatt

[Guest Paniolo Cowboy SASS #75875]

Wylie,

Cow-boys? Like African-American or Mexican-American? So they are descendants from cows and boys??

Wyatt

 

 

In the same way the Brake-men on trains are descendants from brakes and men. Or Cattle-men are descended from cattle and men.

 

In the 1800s, Cowboys were known as cowpunchers and just puchers, as well as beef men, cattlemen, cowhands, cowmen, cowherders, cowpokes, stcoktenders, bronco-buster, buckaroos, bullwhackers, drovers, gauchos, herdsmans, ranchers, stockmen, vaqueros, wranglers, paniolo, crackers, and range riders.

[Wylie Harp, #21158L]

Wylie,

Cow-boys? Like African-American or Mexican-American? So they are descendants from cows and boys??

Wyatt

 

In the same way the Brake-men on trains are descendants from brakes and men. Or Cattle-men are descended from cattle and men.

 

In the 1800s, Cowboys were known as cowpunchers and just puchers, as well as beef men, cattlemen, cowhands, cowmen, cowherders, cowpokes, stcoktenders, bronco-buster, buckaroos, bullwhackers, drovers, gauchos, herdsmans, ranchers, stockmen, vaqueros, wranglers, paniolo, crackers, and range riders.

This is from The Tombstone Epitaph: September 18, 1881 (underlines added by me)

 

The Cow-boy Nuisance.

 

Tombstone Sept. 16--Has anyone stopped for a moment to consider the present state of affairs in Arizona, and what the end will be? It has come to pass in this county that life and personal property are unsafe; even in the town of Tombstone it seems as if one of the leading industries is to be destroyed. There is not a teamster today who is not in fear and dread of the cow-boys, or so-styled "rustlers" depriving him of his hard earnings (I say hard earnings, for if there is a man who gains his living by the sweat of his brow, it is the man who from early morn till late at night pulls and tugs along through mud and rain, dust, and heat, with a six or eight mule team, or the man who shoulders a bull whip and tramps all day long yelling and pounding seven or eight yoke of oxen) How must such men feel to be robbed by a hand of thieves and cutthroats, who take pride in announcing to the public that they are "rustlers!" Where is the teamsters protection? Can you find any officers who will follow, arrest and recover your property? If you can, I would like to see him. And how do teamsters act to one another in such matters? They stand still, for the "rustlers" tell them, "you won't be troubled if you leave us alone." So they take the man's cattle ahead of you, and you won't help him, for you have had an understanding; and then they take yours; the man behind you won't help you for he is "solid," having had an understanding with them; and then they take his, and so it goes. Another thing, teamsters are afraid; they follow, intending to fight, they get close to their stock, are met and told to go back, and back they go. These chaps seem to have no difficulty in evading the law, while others, not inclined to work, daily join the band and they are increasing fast in numbers. Our town is filled with spies watching every move of the officers and imparting their information to their comrades. Just let a stage be robbed and in less than twelve hours no less than twelve "rustlers" will come and go. It is having a dreadfully depressing effect upon all kinds of business. Men who come to examine different mines outside of town, when they learn how the cow-boys stand fellows up, do not wish to run such risks; they quietly take the road they came and get into civilization as soon as possible. Just look at the number of oxen stolen in the last six weeks between here and Morse's Mills; and, to cap off with, they stopped what was left of the train they had robbed, and told the owners; "Travel this no further: if you do we will kill you and take your oxen," and they there and then forced them there and then unyoke. That was done within four miles of this town on last Sunday morning. I think it is time the people did something. There are men not afraid of them, but those men are in various employments. They won't quit work and go on the trail unless the people will make it an object. Ten armed men, well mounted, can, in sixty days, bring to justice many a "rustler." Put the right men in the field and give them the proper leader, and see how soon peace will be restored to the community, and business will resume its happy and prosperous course again.

 

~:Wylie:~

[Olen Rugged]

...Now I know this is just the testimony of one rancher, but if it is true, it puts a completely different slant on things. Just one cattle drive, then most moved on to some other form of work. Think about it. If most young cowboys only rode on one cattle drive, it kind of changes the whole perspective of what some of us have come to believe as the cowboy way of life.

There is considerable difficulty in drawing conclusions from reminiscences of one reporter. Other evidence strongly suggests that the majority of drovers made the trail more than one time and most (60%) went up the trail more than two times.

 

 

A single work, "The Trail Drivers of Texas" contains the narratives of hundreds of drovers that went up the trail between 1865 - 1899. The single most interesting statement made in this book (1000+ pages) is, "what purports to be a history of the trail and ranch life is often a selective, nostalgic memory". I think that is what most of us have when we think of "the cowboy way of life".

 

Olen

 

 

[Buck D. Law, SASS #62183]

Driftwood, I think I hear what you're saying and if so, I agree with you. Assuming in order to be called a cowboy, a person must tend cattle either on a ranch or be involved in the movement of cattle to market (Texas to Kansas for example), even if the "movers" participated in multiple cattle drives, they would still have represented a very small percentage of the population. The majority of the population were sod busters, trappers, miners, bartenders, bankers, lawyers, carpenters, blacksmiths, business owners, cobblers, lawmen, gamblers, soldiers, hooligans and hookers just to name a few. Oh, let's not forget the Indians.

 

As far as the code of the west, that goes back a few years to a best seller called the Bible and was written as: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. It's commonly called "The Golden Rule" and I suspect was first called "The Code of the West" or "The Cowboy Way" either on a radio show or television.

 

The romanticism that people of that era were somehow different - nobler if you may - than people of today baffles me. My personal observation of people has been that most are kind, some are exceptionally kind and some are modern day outlaws. Much today as in the past, crowd humans and those living on the edge will do bad things…or seclude them where they're less likely to get caught and they'll do the same, but even today, most practice the cowboy way. They do unto others as they would have them do unto them. They practice the golden rule.

 

Cowboys were only common............................in cow towns. If you think about it, it's kind of funny that in Gunsmoke, the portrayal of Dodge City, Kansas, the biggest cow town of all, there was little to say about cows and cowboys.

 

I agree with Phantom's concept and Utah Bob's words, it's really cowboy era (1860's - 1970's) shooting. Some of us play "real" cowboys and many of us imitate actors like RR and JW who dressed in "western" attire and shot western guns. And of course, there's the townies and soiled doves, etc., etc., etc.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tskLDVeHDMg&feature=related

[Panhandle Will, SASS #49418]

To respond to Driftwood's original post, my great grandfather actually went "up the trail every year until he became of age..." according to an author's quote in a True West magazine article published back in 1964. It took a long time for me to understand the significance of that statement - and that the author included it in the article because it was unusual.

 

Since g-grandad was 14 when he hired on with Screiner Light & Lytle trailing company, that would mean he worked for them for about 7 years until his 21st birthday. At such time, he could homestead land and seek other opportunities not available to a minor child. His children all spoke about how he always preferred the company of his fellow cowboys and the "old ways" to modern life during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

Not many trailherd cowboys ever became ranchers with large landholdings. A few did. Cattle represented opportunity to anyone who could raise a herd and get it to market when prices were good. Sometimes the small rancher would also crew the traildrive along with the consigned cattle he contracted with the trailing company to drive. Ranching culture was also completely different in Texas than California which was different than Montana, etc. The land and local culture determined how many "hands" they needed to keep around, and most ranches employed surprisingly few fulltime.

 

My family history is rich with first and second person accounts of life on the cattle trails and early settlement of Texas and the Indian & Oklahoma Territories. Based on verifiable information scrutinized by 4 generations, I think that much of what passes for "perspective" in academia and our modern culture about the "Cowboy Life" today is actually derivative of our inability to perceive 19th century "reality" in the same way as those who lived it.

 

Some things that historians say "never happened" - clearly did in some cases. Conversely, just because it happened in Tombstone "this way" doesn't mean it EVER happened in Billings at all. As to whether we romanticize the era... OF COURSE we do! But, in spite of the "Old West" being packaged and sold by everyone since before Buffalo Bill until today, the Cowboy Era was America in many ways - pulling itself up doing the worst possible jobs (like cowboying, mining, railroad building) if necessary to make what was considered an "honest" dollar and pursue the possiblility of future opportunity.

 

Best to all,

PW

[Utah Bob #35998]

 

Some things that historians say "never happened" - clearly did in some cases.

 

Best to all,

PW

 

 

A good historian knows never to say never.

[Sullivan John]

"Last week I was watching the History Detectives on PBS. Hold on, I know a lot of us hate PBS, but they are very good at some things. They were researching exactly where the Chisholm Trail was and whether some of the trail markers are in fact incorrect. One of the researchers interviewed a rancher whose family had been ranching in Texas for many generations. One of his comments really struck me. He mentioned how many of the cowboys who signed up for a cattle drive were Black or Indians. I knew that. He mentioned that the pay was $100 at the end of the drive, and that was pretty good money in those days. I didn't know that, but it struck me as reasonable."

 

*******************************************************************************

My wife's family hails from Douglas Wyoming and had a large spread there. My wonderful mother-in-law was a

shepard back in the day (eary 1900) and carried a old beat up revolver for protection. I asked about

that revolver and cowboys in general. She told me that her father gave the locals permission to drive

their heards across his land. She had numerous encounters with some of the trail hands, one which she

shot his hat off because he was "gittin' a might frisky". According to her these hands all worked

for the brand for a number of years before movin' on. Hard work indeed. She didn't recall their ethnicity,

just as long as they did an honest day work. BTW the term "cowboy" wasn't used, they were just "hired hands".

In that part of the world "cowboy" was a derogatory term.

 

To this day the old gal cann't stand lamb in any shape or form. Still has the pistol.

 

Sullivan

[Panhandle Will, SASS #49418]

A good historian knows never to say never.

 

So right!

[Colonel John Hays, SASS #29625]

There is considerable difficulty in drawing conclusions from reminiscences of one reporter. Other evidence strongly suggests that the majority of drovers made the trail more than one time and most (60%) went up the trail more than two times.

 

 

A single work, "The Trail Drivers of Texas" contains the narratives of hundreds of drovers that went up the trail between 1865 - 1899. The single most interesting statement made in this book (1000+ pages) is, "what purports to be a history of the trail and ranch life is often a selective, nostalgic memory". I think that is what most of us have when we think of "the cowboy way of life".

 

Olen

 

Like Panhandle's post .... my G Granddad went up the trail many times. His first was to Dodge City in 1872 when he was 16. His last trip was in 1881 when the trains started to take over. We have a newpaper cliping that details his first trip. He changed with the times. He had a milk wagon at one time. He bought 1200 acres around Round Rock for 50 cents an acre and farmed and ranched. He also owned and operated a cotton gin in Yoakum Tx. He was a drover...not a "cowboy". Also at that time a "gun" was a

long gun or rifle. Jack Hays

[Olen Rugged]

... He was a drover...not a "cowboy". Also at that time a "gun" was a long gun or rifle. Jack Hays

 

Jack,

 

Interestingly enough "stock drover" was an official occupational category. In the census of 1860 (31.5 million) and 1870 (38.3 million) there were an average of about 3200 drovers and 34, 500 "rancheros" (sic).

 

I noticed in my reading that folks commonly made reference to owning "a gun, a pistol and an apple horn saddle". Only rarely did anyone speak of a Winchester or a Colt's 45.

 

Olen

[Hashknife Cowboy]

I've done ranch work. I've pushed cattle. I've worked my !!!! off doing it and loved every moment of it. Cowboy is not a noun it is a verb according to Waddie Mitchell the cowboy poet. Todays cowboys do much the same as thier predecessors did, they fix fence, dig post holes, harvest hay. They have to be a jack of many trades. They have to have enough mechanical apptitude to fix machines, doctor livestock, repair or build buildings. Cowboys do it all. Everyone that I have ever known are gentlemen, love children, ladies and all of God's creation. Yes they would rather be on a horse but do not always get to. The last time I herded catle I was on a quad, I did'nt care for it much. Then there are the ladies, the women who work on the ranch. Many of them are better cowboys than the men. Its not a competition, all are in it together, working together in a sense of family. Being a cowboy is who you are. Cowboys of old did'nt live too long, there was no cell phones to call in gps coordinates to a medical heicopter when you got hurt. So they died or crippled up bad. Cowboys were not gunfighters, guns were and remain a necessary tool. The romance of it all happens when it all seems to be right. Whether its due to the company, the weather or just being alive thats is what it is all about. I spoke to Ross Knox who use to be a wrangler at the Grand Canyon, he is a cowboy. He said to me after a ride down to Phantom Ranch, yeah it was a cold one this morning but did you see my office? Long live cowboys and to those who refuse to let it die! Yoos-ta-be-Kid Flagstaff AZ :FlagAm:

[Utah Bob #35998]

[Rex M Rugers #6621]

Hey , nice video , UB. Did ya notice , there wasn't any overweight lads in any of those old photos.

I spent most of one year day-working in West Texas about 40 years ago , being horseback several hours a day thinned me down considerable , even in these modern times.

Loved the work , but couldn't make a living at it , even single. Rex

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Powerful, melancholy!