A question for my friends in the USA about cowboys.

by punkofnice 87 Replies latest social current

• 

  Balaamsass2

  If you like beef (or mutton), much of it is still raised and herded by "cowboys" the "ranch hands" who work for the land owner or "Rancher"( at least for the first year or so of it's life). Locally some of them still ride horses if the ranch is steep or has too many rocks for an ATV or Pick-up truck. We have a lot of ranches nearby.

  During the 1840s to almost 1910 the local ranchers and Indians fought and everyone carried a gun. Bears, coyotes and Mt Lions still kill lambs, calves and even a horse now and then. Most ranchers keep a gun close by to this day. Modern Cattle rustlers still strike at night, but now they cut fences and use semi-trucks to load the beef.

  The big modern problem is Mexican Cartels have well armed workers growing Marijuana on nearby Federal lands, Forests and remote ranch land and a "cowboy" or worker can accidently stumble across a "grow"....so people working in remote areas are carrying guns more frequently now than 20-80 years ago.
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Punkofnice, would you like to travel back in time to 1888 Deadwood South Dakota? Listen to this song and get a taste of what it would have felt like on a lazy afternoon in a Deadwood saloon. This music and story are how it still feels in the small towns outwest.

  You're going to smile ear to ear. I promise. Very atmospheric. It's called Deadwood and it is by Nanci Griffith. It was written by her former husband Eric Taylor. This was recorded in 1988.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ehstb-tI0
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Take a trip out west and you'll expect the calavry to come riding in or an Indian to shoot a flaming arrow from behind a rock. The first time I went to Ft. Davis, Texas in the Davis Mountains, it felt and looked just like a western movie or TV show. I recommend visiting Fort Davis, TX and Cimarron, NM.

  

  You drive across the desert on Hwy 17 and off in the distance you can see the Davis Mountains:

  

  Be sure to get a room here if you visit, at least for one of the nights. Its just like Miss Kitty's place in Gunsmoke. The rooms anyway. We loved our stay there: http://www.hotellimpia.com/

  

  

  There is a wonderful observatory out side of town in the mountains.

  

  Time lapse of the night sky from the observatory:

  The stars at night, really are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas.

  

  This is the Indian Lodge, outside of town:

  
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Cimarron, NM is a tiny town with a BIG history. There is a hotel there, now called the St. James, that still has bullet holes from gunfights. And the fighters, outlaws and lawmen were famous:

  http://centerofthewest.org/2014/07/30/buffalo-bill-st-james-hotel-cimarron-new-mexico/

  “it was a favored place for lawmen, outlaws, and everyone in between"

  Then:

  

  Modern times:

  

  Here is one of the bullet holes, still in the ceiling of what was the saloon, but is now the dining room:

  "Twenty-two bullet holes still reside in the saloon’s tin ceiling, attesting to the rowdiness of the place. A common question asked was: “Who was killed at Lambert’s(St. James) last night?”

  

  

  Part of the lobby

  .

  There are fourteen rooms named for the outlaws, lawmen and celebrities that used them:

  The Jesse James room

  

  The Pancho Griogo room:

  

  The Buffalo Bill Cody room:

  

  Annie Oakley suite

  It is said that Buffalo Bill Cody bought tricycles for the town children, so they could ride up and down the porch of the hotel. It is also said that he came up with his plans for his famed Wild West Show, while a guest at the St. James Hotel

  Here is a nice page about both the St. James Hotel and the Taos Pueblo, where the Red Willow (Taos Pueblo's moder Indian population) people live to this day:

  https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/category/history/

  
• 

  piztjw

  Lincoln, New Mexico is another place to see.

  Tombstone, Arizona

  As a working cowboy I can say both these places are fairly authentic. BTW there is a great sign above the outdoor mens urinal that is full of cubed ice that melts and carries waste away, "Customers, the ice in this urinal is only occasionaly used to mix your drinks."
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Piz, you will probably love that song I posted about Deadwood and the death of Crazy Horse.
• 

  Gregor

  I was 19 in late 1964. I applied for work in both Deadwood and Lead (pronounced 'Leed') gold mines, I was rejected because I wore glasses and at 6'1" and 140 lbs didn't fit the profile they were looking for! Deadwood is in a very narrow, steep canyon. The main street is at the bottom and all the streets on either side go up at an extreme angle. I visited the saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot down holding aces and eights.

  
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  I visited the saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot down holding aces and eights.

  Gregor, that is cool. Wild Bill Hickok also stayed at the St. James Hotel I posted about. Thanks for the picture of Deadwood and your experiences there:

  Deadwood

  (By Eric Taylor)
  
  Well, the good times scratched a laugh
  From the lungs of the young men
  In a Deadwood saloon, South Dakota afternoon
  And the old ones by the door
  With their heads on their chests,
  They told lies about whiskey on a womans breath
  
  Yes, and some tell the story of young Mickey Free
  Who lost an eye to a buck deer in the Tongue River Valley
  Oh and some tell the story of California Joe
  Who sent word through the Black Hills
  There was a mountain of gold
  
  [Chorus:]
  And the gold she lay cold in their pockets
  And the sun she sets down on the trees
  And they thank the Lord
  For the land that they live in
  Where the white man does as he pleases
  
  Some flat-shoed fool from the East comes a-runnin'
  With some news that he'd read in some St. Joseph paper
  And it was "Drinks all around" cause the news he was tellin'
  Was the one they called Crazy
  Has been caught and been dealt with
  
  And the Easterner he read the news from the paper
  And the old ones moved closer so's they could hear better
  "Well it says here that Crazy Horse
  Was killed while trying to escape,
  And that was some time last September,
  It don't give the exact date"
  
  [Chorus]
  
  Where the white man does as he pleases
  
  Then the talk turned back to whiskey and women
  And cold nights on the plains, Lord
  And fightin' them indians
  And the Easterner he says he'll have one more
  'fore he goes
  He gives the paper to the Crow boy
  Who sweeps up the floor
  
  [Chorus]
  
  Where the white man does as he pleases
  Where the white man does as he pleases
  As he wants to, as he pleases
• 

  fiddler

  When I went to Montana a few years ago with a couple of exJW's I met online to meet up with another exJW I pretty much felt like I was in 'Cowbow land'. There was like a farm with 100's of acres of land with cattle grazing separating it from the next farm.... It was beautiful to see so much open country. Coming from the West Coast Montana seemed like going back to a different era.

  Where I grew up, Arizona, old Tucson always had reenactments of the Wyatt Earp OK Corral thing. That did pretty much happen during a pretty violent old West time period. When people began expanding outwards from the East Coast to the West there was not a lot of law and order. It would have been a very hard time to live in I think.

  The infringement upon native American tribal territories was filled with guns and blood. I would equate it with England's infringement upon the Welsh and Scots and Irish. Pagan Celts and pagan Indians.......same dif to the powers that were.

  Cattle are moved today not by cattle drives but by big cattle trucks (lories)...not so glamorous but then, I don't think cattle drives were particularly glamorous. The Midwest is where the big cattle ranches are. For a funny take on American cattle drives you should listen to Garrison Keilors Prairy Home Companion. It's a radio show (yes! there are a few still in existence!!) On it there is a skit with two 'cowboys' and it's always quite funny to listen to. Maybe if you google Prairy Home Companion, cowboys http://youtu.be/K9c-7WLngIg?list=PLC9DA5CEFECE613B8
• 

  punkofnice

  Gordon Bennet guv'nah. I thought this would be a kushti little thread where I could post answers to you individually.

  I'd like to say a massive thanks for all the info and family history. Most enlightening considering I was watching the Good the Bad and the Ugly last night on Channel 5.

  I'm beginning to see how the 'cowboy' heritage has made it's mark on modern society.......even here in the UK.

  The Milky bars are on me!