COWBOYS

CATTLE HERD AND DRIVE 1902

CATTLE DRIVE IN NEW MEXICO

The cattle barons made the money but the cowboys had to care for their wealth.

The cowboy was responsible for the well-being of the cattle all year round. They branded the calves, mend the fences, had to find the stray cattle and go to get them out of the rivers and bogs. They had to herd them together and take the young out. The herd had to go to the market. It was a life spends in the saddle as well as tedious, dangerous and dirty.

Definitely not the great life shown by Hollywood.

The real cowboys were mostly Mexicans, American Indian, Blacks or mixtures of all three. The language they spoke were more Spanish than English

The cowboys enjoyed herding the cattle to the rail-head. It could be anything up to three months. At the head of the trail rode the trail boss and he picked and chose to stop and where to camp. Next to the trail boss was the Chuck Wagon with the cook, food and equipment for the men. On either side of the herd, still at the front, were the leading point’s riders. The swing and flank riders were at the middle of the herd and kept it together. At the back, in all the dust, were the drag men. A wrangler's job was to look after the spare horses. It usually was a cowboy. Each cowboy had five or six horses because the work was tiring and they had to change often.

Trail driving was very dangerous. Since the weather was extremely hot, lightening and hailstorm appeared often. The danger was also in crossing the rivers and cattle were swept away. The cattle are a highly strung animal and therefore stampeding was quiet often. Then it took hours to round them up again. The wolves and other wild beasts were hoping for a good meal. The rustlers were only too happy to move in and cut some cattle out. The cowboys had troubles with settlers and Indian when cattle strayed onto their land. The cattle not only ate their crops but carried tick fever which could spread to their animals.

When the homesteader fenced their land and livestock in; a lot of trouble was saved.

In Texas the herds of Mexican Longhorn cattle which roamed there multiplied during the Civil War. In 1865 when the war ended they had about five million cattle. Of course, in Texas they would be worth anything but they herded north to the rail-heads. From there they were shipped east and sold ten times as much and with that the great 'beef bonanza' began.

Getting the cattle north was a hard job. A route had to found where there was plenty of grass, water and not to upset the local farmers. The men, who organised the operation from round to slaughterhouses, were the cattle barons. A famous cattle baron was Joseph McCoy, a Chicago livestock dealer. He made sure that the Kansas Pacific Railway was going through the frontier village of Abili. It was closed to the Civil War supply trail, know as the Chisholm Trail.

McCoy built a hotel, stockyard, office and a bank in Abilene. Later on branches went to the cow towns of Ellsworth and Dodge City. Other famous trails were the Goodnight-Loving to Cheyenne, the Western to Dodge and Ogallalla and the Shawnee to Kansas City.

The frontier moved move and more west and families headed for the new land. In 1850 when 55,000 settlers set off in wagon trains for the 'golden land in California. Another huge numbers of settlers went to the central plains to set up home on their own land. A Homestead Act was issued in 1862. This offered 65 hectares of land for $10 but they have to stay there for five years. Thousands of families went, first on wagon trails and later on the railways.

OREGON TRAIL 

The life on the trail was tough. Settlers travelled in Ox- or mule-drawn covered wagons. The wagon held the family and all its goods. When the convoy covered 20km, they called it a good day. However, they had to cross rivers, go around hills or had to mend wagons.

When they reached the promised land they realized that it wasn't great. They done the long journeys in summer and when they arrived winter came soon. They had to built shelter, mostly out of turf, dig wells, find food and clear the land for spring sowing. When the crop grew, they were faced with plagues of grasshopper and frequent fires.

However, they somehow managed to dig wells, fenced in land, built homes, churches, schools and slowly a community came together. They usual built near the railways or junction. Civilization got established again and the 'Wild West' got tamed. From 1900 it only existed in fictions.

The entire great main villain had a love for being photographed. One of the last great gangs 'The Wild Bunch' was pictured in 1901 with the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy.

Buffalo Bill Cody who started the Wild West show began his career as a Pony Express rider. Later he became a buffalo hunter and an Indian scout in the Indian war. 1883 he started his show with a team of cowboys and Native Americans. He even brought his show to London and entertained Queen Victoria and family.

SITTING BULL AND BUFFALO BILL 

There is a bit a myth about pretty Annie Oakley. She was an unbelievable good shot and a star performer in the Wild West Show. However, she came from the east coast and only came to the West with the showTop of FormBottom of For