November 2018 10 First off, there really were not very many cowboys in the late 1800’s. The 1890 U.S. census put 17 million people west of the Mississippi River. (Actually, there were a lot more because, back then blacks, Mexicans, and Native Americans were not counted.) There were no more than 30,000 cowboys. This means that for every cowboy there were 500 other people in the west doing something besides riding horses and tending cattle. It was the early Spanish vaqueros that invented open range cattle ranching some 300 years before the first American cowboy threw a leg over a horse. The vaqueros were also the very first mounted herdsmen to perfect the art of roping or lassoing cattle and horses. On the long cattle drives north the cowboys would sing to the cattle at night. It tended to keep them calm and quiet. Though cowboys, in general, weren’t noted for being a highly religious lot, some of their songs were actually religious pieces such as “In the Sweet By and By” and “Nearer My God to Thee”. They also sang “The Cowboy’s Lament (The Streets of Laredo), “Old Dan Tucker”, and “The Old Chisholm Trail”. The most common cowboy musical instrument was not the guitar but, the harmonica, which could be easily carried in a shirt or vest pocket or saddle bags. You seldom saw a working ranch hand in town in his cowboy garb. A lot of them would keep a suit of “town clothes” with the town barber. The first thing they would when they went to town was to visit the barber, get a bath and a shave put on their clean, fresh “town clothes” and head for the saloon. 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 brutal. Few drovers ever made more than one drive. There were far easier ways to make a living. The camp cook was considered the most important person in a cow camp or on a cattle drive. Nobody messed with the cook because everybody eats and a really good cook could often make the same wages as a foreman. Cowboys seldom had problems with the Native Americans. That was pretty much reserved for the military that went looking for them. Getting “called out” for the classic Hollywood gunfight in the street is a myth. There were those referred to as a “fast gun” but it had nothing to do with how fast they could draw and fire. A “fast gun” was a man with a real short temper that was quick to use a gun. There were “hired guns” (who were not ranch hands or cowboys) but, there were no well- known “fast guns” going from town to town challenging and killing men in fast draw shootouts. Neither were there men going all over the west bringing down notorious outlaws while spotlessly dressed as cowboys and riding silver mounted saddles. There were bounty hunters, of course, but they weren’t cowboys and they didn’t wear cowboy clothes. Nearly all the towns in the old west had a city ordinance against carrying firearms. These ordinances were often violated but, they did exist and were often enforced. Every fall most of the working ranch hands were laid off for the winter. A new crew would be hired in the spring. Not many had the necessary skills to get any other kind of work so working 6 or 7 months out of the year at $25 or $30 a month didn’t leave a man much for anything but the bare essentials and a working cowboy had to provide everything except the horse which was provided by the ranch. INTERESTING COWBOY FACTS – Part 1 By Cowboy Historian Lee Anderson Living Historian and author 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 November 23rd at 10am 1001 N Scottsdale Rd Tempe, 85281 2710 Thunderbird Rd Phoenix, 85023