July 2019 34 At a ranch, a roundup, or on a cattle drive, the camp cook was considered the most important person. Nobody messed with the cook because everybody eats and a really good cook could often make the same wages as a foreman. Contrary to Hollywood, working ranch hands seldom had any serious problems with the Native Americans. That was pretty much reserved for the military that went looking for them. You didn’t often see a working ranch hand in town in his cowboy “garb”. It wasn’t uncommon for the working ranch hands (cowboys) to keep a suit of “town clothes” with the town barber. The first thing they would do when they got paid and went to town was visit the barber to get a bath, a haircut, and a shave. Then they would put on their fresh, clean “town clothes”, and head for the saloon. However, the drovers on the long cattle drives were another matter altogether. They were lucky if they had a spare shirt, let alone a complete change of clothes and there weren’t any barber shops or general stores along the way. Not many of the men on the long cattle drives were working ranch hands. They were men who were contracted for that drive and most were teenagers that hired on just for the adventure. Some were attempting to evade the law. They were called drovers. City folks called them cowboys. Life on a cattle drive was so brutal that few drovers ever made more than one drive. There were far easier ways to make a living. At an old time cow camp (a roundup) everybody saddled their own horse, even the ranch owner’s wife if she happened to be present. This was done for the same reason you pack your own parachute. Those range bred horses were not gentle backyard pets and should there be any kind of a problem or an accident involving a horse or the equipment, nobody else could be held responsible. By Lee Anderson, Old West Living Historian, Award Winning Author, and Old School Horseman Lee Anderson and his horse, Concho, are well known around the state doing presentations in schools, corporate events, and civic events. Learn more about them and his book on his website. historicaloldwest.org DID YOU KNOW, IN THE OLD WEST...