Latest / Nebraska History Podcast / The Real Story Behind Nebraska's Cowboys

Transcript

The Real Story Behind Nebraska's Cowboys · Nebraska History Podcast

0:02
Nebraska History Magazine. This article may reflect the
0:04
language and attitudes of its time, and while it offers
0:06
valuable insight into the past, may contain expressions or
0:08
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards,
0:13
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
0:15
Welcome to the Nebraska History Podcast.
0:17
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode, we explore
0:21
articles written and published
0:24
Today we ride back into the real
0:29
range cowboys. Hard working, underpaid young
0:31
men who helped shape the frontier long before Hollywood
0:38
their lives on horseback, the dangers they faced, and the
0:41
communities they built through
0:45
History Magazine article A Peculiar Set of Men Nebraska
0:48
Cowboys of the Open Range, written by James E Potter.
0:53
As an American icon, the cowboy has few peers.
0:58
The iconic cowboy began to emerge, while the real one was
1:06
show premiered in Omaha in eighteen eighty three, and soon
1:09
took the romanticized American cowboy abroad.
1:13
Dime novels featuring cowboy derring do were common
1:17
nineteenth century fare. Owen Wister's novel The
1:20
Virginian solidified the cowboy hero archetype.
1:24
Films like The Great Train Robbery in nineteen oh three
1:27
initiated a stream of Hollywood films and TV series that helped
1:44
Rawhide, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke and Bonanza.
1:48
Larry McMurtry's nineteen eighty
1:51
became a best seller and was made into a TV miniseries.
1:55
Cowboy poetry get togethers are frequently held, and magazines
2:00
such as Cowboys and Indians and
2:04
readership. Authors who write about the
2:07
West, both fiction and non-fiction, affiliate in the
2:09
Western Writers of America, an
2:14
magazine is Roundup. Cowboy imagery often appears in
2:18
music and even in advertising.
2:21
The old time cowboy of the nineteenth century American West
2:35
Association (The PRCA) competitions and in scores of
2:39
lesser rodeos. Many other examples illustrate
2:46
In the cowboy reconstructing an American myth, William Savage
2:58
an individual of little or no significance.
3:02
Unfortunately, as Richard Slatta
3:10
is only dimly visible in the new, sanitized, politicized,
3:15
symbiotic cowboy. End quote.
3:18
Slatta's conclusion applies as
3:24
lives they led are generally understood, most of these hard
3:32
anonymous. A few, however, can be glimpsed
3:35
more fully in the historical record via recollections,
3:38
documents, photographs or personal possessions they left
3:52
to ranch owner, law officer or politician after their range
3:56
riding days were over. One reason so little is known
4:00
about most of the men who trailed the Longhorns north from
4:07
century is that the period in which they flourished was so
4:11
brief. Again, quoting Slatta quote,
4:13
extensive open range ranching came and went in the American
4:17
West in the space of a single lifetime.
4:19
End quote. Although the term cow-boy can be
4:27
literally a youth who tended cows.
4:30
In North America, cowboy, in its
4:35
nickname for cattle thieves roaming the Texas-Mexico border
4:38
during the eighteen thirties.
4:54
Subsequently hired laborers on
4:57
cowboys, began to do much of their work as pedestrians while
5:01
building fences, putting up hay
5:05
As former cowboy James H. Cook put it in nineteen twenty
5:08
three, quote, a forty five caliber hammer, a sack of
5:12
fence staples and a wire cutter, splicer and staple
5:15
puller combined are all the tools you need by the modern
5:18
cowboy. End quote.
5:20
Saddle horses began to give way to pickup trucks, tractors, or
5:24
all terrain vehicles. No longer was the cowboy
5:28
exclusively an equestrian, although a few Texas cattle were
5:35
herd of seven hundred and fifty
5:38
the Missouri River at Nebraska City in July eighteen sixty.
5:49
Once the war was over, a surplus
5:57
both the supply and the demand for beef.
6:01
If cattle were driven from their
6:04
railroads pushing westward across Kansas and Nebraska,
6:06
they could be transported quickly to the eastern
6:09
slaughterhouses and packing plants.
6:12
Moreover, post-Civil war negotiations with the plains
6:16
tribes such as the Fort Laramie Treaty of eighteen sixty eight
6:19
established the Great Sioux Reservation, providing for the
6:39
acres of Great Plains grassland became available to
6:42
raise cattle both for market and to supply the reservations
6:46
and the army posts that surrounded them.
6:49
The vast herds of bison had already demonstrated that the
6:52
plains grasses could sustain large ruminants year round.
6:57
Proprietors of trailside emporiums of the eighteen
6:59
fifties and eighteen sixties, known as road ranches,
7:03
successfully wintered oxen and
7:07
sometimes putting up hay to supplement grazing.
7:11
Squire Lamb, who operated such
7:23
cured buffalo grass. Quote, they graze as in the
7:26
summer. End quote.
7:28
M.H. Brown is said to have brought
7:30
the first Texas cattle to the Platte Valley, near North
7:33
Platte, some eight hundred head in the fall of eighteen sixty
7:40
seventeen hundred to Nebraska, which he sold to local
7:44
entrepreneurs Keith and Barton.
7:46
In eighteen sixty nine, John Bratt, in partnership with Isaac
7:53
of Texas cattle and in eighteen seventy established
7:56
his home ranch southeast of the town of North Platte.
7:59
By February eighteen seventy, the town's newspaper, the Platte
8:11
excepting that which nature affords in the region between
8:14
Plum Creek, present day Lexington and Sidney.
8:18
Until the middle eighteen seventies, most ranches were
8:21
located in the region, extending
8:24
to the Republican River, and from Fort McPherson on the
8:27
east to the Colorado line. A few were also being
8:31
established along the loop drainages on the eastern margin
8:34
of the Sandhills north of the
8:36
Ranching remained undeveloped because the Western Sioux
8:40
(Lakotas) retained the right to hunt there under the terms of
8:46
The era of big cattle drives from Texas to northern railheads
8:53
Kansas Pacific as the destination.
8:56
Trailing Texas cattle to Nebraska began in earnest in
8:59
eighteen seventy, with the town of Schuyler, the first
9:02
beneficiary of this traffic. Complaints about high rates and
9:06
slow service had prompted Texas
9:09
Dillard R Fant, to seek a shipping point on the Union
9:12
Pacific. In the summer of eighteen
9:14
seventy, at least thirty thousand cattle were driven to
9:27
thing for Omaha, and a good thing for the whole state, end
9:37
However, the promising future
9:39
envisioned for Nebraska as a cattle driving destination would
9:46
continue to be trailed to southeastern Nebraska for a few
9:50
more years, many passing through to northern Indian
9:53
reservations. Locals farther west would soon
10:05
The legislature in eighteen seventy one had passed a herd
10:09
law making livestock owners liable for damages.
10:13
Although voters could suspend the law's enforcement on a
10:16
county by county basis, residents of farming regions
10:19
were not inclined to do so, forcing the cattle drives west
10:30
mentioned by the Beatrice Weekly
10:33
eighteen seventy three as being grazed nearby.
10:36
They included two thousand seven
10:40
Burnham of Austin, Texas, two thousand three hundred or more,
10:43
owned by a Mr. Camfield that arrived in July, and two more
10:47
herds totaling three thousand three hundred head that arrived
10:50
in September. Most of these cattle were sold
10:56
newspaper to state that quote,
11:01
as a cattle shipping point, and
11:04
sales to permanently establish
11:07
End quote. Like Schuyler, however, Beatrice
11:14
The region around Kearney and the nearby hamlet of Lowell,
11:17
south of the Platte River, had
11:23
Spurred on by the Burlington and
11:26
connection with the Union Pacific at Kearney in eighteen
11:32
would be the primary Nebraska
11:36
Inevitably, the farming frontier
11:42
military reservation south of
11:50
eighteen seventy four gun battle
11:54
citizens signaled the end of Kearney's short reign as an
11:58
important cowtown. Although a few more herds and
12:00
cowboys came the following year as settlement pushed the drys
12:09
North Platte gained considerable
12:15
Nebraska's trail driving history.
12:18
After the Union Pacific built stockyards there in eighteen
12:21
seventy four, and a town site was platted in eighteen seventy
12:24
five. This so-called town, whose
12:27
population soared during the summer with an influx of
12:30
cattlemen and cowboys, served both as a shipping point to
12:33
eastern markets and as a distribution center for cattle
12:47
first private ranchman to move
12:50
north of the Platte. After a prairie fire burned the
12:53
grasslands to the south in the fall of eighteen seventy four.
12:57
Brothers James W and George H.
13:03
and Spotted tail agencies, kept
13:06
the Platte in the region between present Bridgeport and
13:10
Lewellen. Every week or so Bosler cowboys
13:12
drove from five hundred to a thousand.
13:15
Head north for issue to the Indians.
13:18
This beginning and the eighteen seventy five extinguishment of
13:21
Indian hunting rights in the region prompted more cattlemen
13:27
scores of ranches dotted not only the valleys of the North
13:30
and South Platte, but the Loups,
13:34
Republican and their tributaries, and also the
13:37
Sandhills interior, previously
13:40
wasteland. In spring eighteen seventy nine,
13:46
storms found hundreds thriving
13:50
The range where the vast herds
13:53
Government land upon which no taxes were levied.
13:56
Water and grass were plentiful, and only crude structures of
14:00
log or sod were needed for ranch headquarters.
14:03
The profits to be made from open
14:07
the expense of buying the cattle and paying the minimum
14:09
wages of the laborers who minded them.
14:12
Prominent Nebraskans such as William F Cody, Frank North, the
14:19
from the East and abroad, soon
14:34
was surveyed, homesteaders pressed into cattle country and
14:38
the herd law was invoked where cattle had previously been free
14:46
Western Nebraska climate produced a series of harsh
14:49
winters that decimated herds, and quarantines were issued
14:53
against the importation of longhorns carrying splenic or
14:57
Texas fever. The tick borne disease did not
15:03
were increasingly stocking the
15:07
By fall of eighteen eighty four,
15:10
recognized that the end of the
15:15
noted, quote, Texas fever has almost spoiled Ogallala for the
15:19
cattle market, and it's a good thing for the town, the cattle
15:23
drives that have been here for years and the town never grew
15:28
Grangers to make a town, end quote.
15:31
The large cattle companies began
15:35
or Montana. With the end of the open range,
15:38
the Nebraska cowboy's work and way of life also began to
15:42
change. Cattle drives from Texas to
15:45
Great Plains railheads after the
15:51
were shipped to market or delivered to Indian reservations
15:56
There was not much work to keep the cowboys in the state, and
16:02
drives to Ogallala drew to a close, the first year the town
16:10
stating, quote. Thirty thousand head of cattle
16:16
and the herders returned yesterday on their way back to
16:24
Pony back a distance of eight hundred miles.
16:27
Like discharged soldiers, they
16:34
Many of them spent every dollar of their hard earned money
16:36
before leaving the fitting out
16:40
They are provided enough, however, to have laid in their
16:46
A majority of the herders here
16:49
perhaps but one or two trips across the country, end quote.
16:57
trail hand's arrival with the Longhorns made them all seem
17:01
Texans. The Sydney Telegraph noted as
17:04
much in August eighteen seventy nine when it wrote, quote, a
17:07
large number of the cowboys in
17:10
In a recent conversation with one of them, we remarked how
17:13
natural it was for a Texas boy
17:17
Yes, he replied, we are brought up with it, commencing from
17:21
boyhood, growing with it, and in
17:27
The eighteen eighty federal and eighteen eighty five State
17:30
population census for selected
17:34
country provide a glimpse of Nebraska Cowboys age and
17:38
origins, though it is likely that many more were not
17:41
enumerated. The census was taken in June,
17:44
when most of the men would have been scattered across the
17:47
ranges, working the annual roundup.
17:49
Through about eighteen eighty,
17:57
rather than cowboys. Several herders enumerated in
18:01
the eighteen eighty census of Sheidley's Ranch in Keith
18:04
County, and the Hunter and Evans
18:11
states of the former Confederacy, but many were
18:14
natives of Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, New
18:19
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and several foreign countries,
18:23
including Canada, England and
18:26
The eighteen eighty five State
18:38
agricultural schedule. Collectively, the ranches had
18:41
slightly more than forty three
18:45
On June first, the Sioux County Cowboys, like their eighteen
18:49
eighty counterparts, had been born all across the United
18:52
States and in several foreign countries, including Norway,
18:55
France and Mexico. Nine cowboys had been born in
18:59
Iowa, eleven percent of the sample, followed by seven Texas
19:03
born men, slightly more than nine percent.
19:05
Natives of Illinois, Missouri,
19:12
furnished more than three cowboys, regardless of their
19:16
nativity, many Nebraska cowboys got their start in Texas.
19:21
James H. Cook was born in Michigan and
19:24
went to Kansas, where a cattleman told him, quote, the
19:26
best way to see the West was to get work with some cow
19:29
outfit and go to Texas. End quote.
19:32
After working on several cattle drives from Texas to Kansas,
19:35
Cook hired on with an eighteen
19:39
Territory Indian Reservation and subsequently ended up in
19:50
Edward C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott, whose
19:53
recollection We Pointed Them North is a classic, was born
19:57
in England and grew up near Lincoln, Nebraska, before
20:00
running away from home to become
20:04
Abbott signed on with Isom "Print" Olive to return to
20:07
Nebraska in eighteen seventy nine with a herd destined for
20:11
the Olive ranch on the Loup quote, it was easy to get a job.
20:21
go north with a herd, end quote.
20:23
Abbott, however, soon left Nebraska and spent the rest of
20:31
black. Notable examples were Amos
20:33
Harris, born a slave in Galveston, and James Kelly,
20:37
birthplace unknown, the latter
20:41
with Olive herds from Texas. Harris and Kelly remained in
20:44
Nebraska for the rest of their
20:50
eighty eight, an intoxicated black man named Shelton Reddon
21:05
Seth Mabry as a cook on a ranch for whom he worked for
21:08
eleven years, discontinuing there he was employed by R.
21:12
E. Bean at the Keystone Ranch,
21:13
where he worked for the past year, dishing up savory viands
21:17
for the men who followed the festive cattle of the North
21:20
River country. End quote.
21:22
While black cowboys were usually
21:29
newspaper mentioned the eighteen eighty five passage
21:31
of a herd for the Bay Stage range.
21:33
That quote was in charge of an
21:37
bosses and all, end quote. Richard Slatta estimated that
21:40
about five thousand black cowboys helped trail herds north
21:47
five. Given the vaquero origins of the
21:53
Hispanic ancestry. The olives employed Mexicans,
21:57
including one Pedro Dominicus,
22:01
time of the eighteen seventy eight killing of homesteaders
22:03
Mitchell and Ketchum by Olive cowboys in Custer County.
22:07
Another man, "Mexican Leon," was
22:18
Abbott also recalled that although white Southerners such
22:20
as the Olives, were strongly prejudiced against blacks and
22:24
Mexicans. Quote, they hired them because
22:29
John Bratt remembered that in eighteen seventy, quote, our
22:32
employees, some twenty or thirty
22:35
Mexicans, end quote. Five cowboys listed in the
22:39
eighteen eighty five Census of
22:41
Mexico, and another had been born in New Mexico.
22:45
While most of the cowboys listed
22:48
were in their twenties, although several were
22:51
teenagers. Many of the youthfulness was
22:53
typical of the Sioux County cowboys in eighteen eighty five,
22:59
percent of the sample. Slightly more than nine percent
23:02
were teenagers, while nearly twenty percent were in their
23:05
thirties. Only four men older than thirty
23:08
were listed as cowboys. Older men often worked as
23:12
foremen or cooks, but John Graham of the Hunter ranch, age
23:15
thirty eight in eighteen eighty, was still listed as a
23:19
herder. Fourteen of the eighteen eighty
23:21
five cowboys were recorded as
23:24
wives were not with them. The youth of the cowboys in the
23:28
census conforms to recollections by several
23:31
Nebraskans. Nels Rowley, who settled in
23:33
Cherry County, said he was seventeen when he got his first
23:36
job in eighteen seventy nine on
23:40
Edward C Abbott was eighteen when he made his first trail
23:43
drive in eighteen seventy nine.
23:45
James H. Cook was in his teens when he
23:47
drove cattle from Texas in the mid eighteen seventies.
23:50
Bartlett Richards, later to become one of Nebraska's most
23:53
prominent cattlemen, was not yet
23:56
Massachusetts in eighteen seventy nine to work as a cowboy
24:04
longhorns from Texas to Ogallala
24:07
roundups from the Nebraska ranges, the cowboy worked on
24:11
horseback. The drives began in Texas in
24:14
February or March, with the goal
24:19
Seth Mabry in eighteen seventy
24:23
get them up here earlier by July first through the tenth,
24:25
end quote. According to fellow Texas
24:28
cattleman Eugene B Millett and
24:34
hundred was thought to constitute an immense herd.
24:37
But now two thousand five hundred to four thousand are
24:40
brought up at a time. End quote.
24:42
Managing herds of this size on
24:49
eleven men, one the trail boss
24:53
needed for a herd of two thousand five hundred.
24:56
James H. Cook helped drive a similar
24:58
sized herd from Texas to Dakota Territory in eighteen
25:01
seventy six, saying, quote, there were ten of us, including
25:05
our trail boss, Mr. Max Stewart, and the cook.
25:07
End quote. James C Dahlman, who came north
25:10
with Texas cattle in eighteen
25:13
Nebraska after his cowboy days
25:19
One of these men was usually the
25:22
of the cowboys horses. The herd's owner furnished from
25:26
four to ten mounts for each man, so fresh horses would be
25:30
available as needed. W C.B.
25:32
Allen, an Omaha Weekly Republican correspondent,
25:35
visited a longhorn drive on the Republican River in July of
25:38
eighteen seventy six and reported that the horses used by
25:48
case is undetermined. Once numerous Nebraska ranches
25:55
cowboys could find employment here if they did not want to
25:58
stick to driving herds from Texas.
26:00
Like the trail hands, the open
26:07
in. Calves were branded.
26:09
Sometimes a smaller fall roundup
26:13
animals from the range for shipping.
26:15
In his March eighteen seventy eight address as president of
26:18
the Lincoln County Stock Growers
26:22
estimated that there were some
26:24
cattle in Nebraska west of the
26:27
Quote, giving employment to six hundred men, end quote.
26:31
The first systematic roundups began in Nebraska in eighteen
26:34
seventy five, the same year that
26:41
unorganized territory was created by the legislature and
26:47
organized. These developments were at the
26:53
of handling stock and our mutual protection in stock
26:56
raising, end quote. Roundups and shipments of cattle
27:09
The latter included designating various roundup districts, how
27:13
round up foremen were to be selected, and the number of
27:16
cowboys each cattleman was required to furnish, based on
27:19
the number of cattle he owned.
27:22
spring roundup had become an interstate affair, coordinated
27:30
counted many Nebraska cattlemen among its members.
27:33
In eighteen eighty four, the association designated thirty
27:37
one roundup districts, eight of which were entirely or
27:40
partially in Nebraska. Although the roundup season was
27:44
shorter than the trail season, the work was more complicated
27:51
As related by Dan Adamson, each roundup district might cover a
27:55
large territory over which the herds from five to ten cow
27:59
outfits ranged. Each district appointed a
28:02
foreman, and each outfit therein
28:05
wranglers, a cook and a mess or chuckwagon.
28:09
As with the trail drives, each
28:15
horses, usually eight to ten per
28:18
Reps from the outfits outside the district came along to
28:21
ensure that cattle belonging to the owner for whom they worked
28:25
were identified. Adams described the customary
28:28
method of working a Round-Up district quote each morning, all
28:36
Foreman's wagon. Wagon bosses having instructions
28:52
over the country. Between there and the new camp,
28:55
reaching out on the sides twenty or more miles according
28:58
to the nature of the country.
29:00
The Round-Up foreman rode straight to the new camp and
29:03
round up ground, picked up the
29:07
hold and water herds. A large roundup outfit would be
29:10
strung along a river or creek
29:20
get too many cattle in one bunch, as it's difficult to cut
29:23
them clean from the different
29:25
They were usually from seven to twelve hundred in a bunch, and
29:29
there might be from two or three to five or six of these
29:33
bunches on a roundup ground.
29:40
was always done. First, the roundup foreman
29:42
instructing the different outfits what bunches to cut
29:45
from. Then the same routine was
29:47
carried out in cutting out the
29:50
The cattle still remaining, being the ones belonging to that
29:55
where they rounded up on, giving
29:59
to catch them on the next day's drive.
30:02
The different stray bunches were
30:04
respective herds to be carried
30:07
all hands then went to dinner.
30:10
up, herders relieved, and the work of branding up the calves
30:17
five hundred calves were branded
30:25
range, end quote. A June eighteen seventy six
30:28
article by an individual the newspaper described as, quote,
30:38
wrote of the skills employed by the cowboys and their horses,
30:45
experienced cowboy as they dash over the rough prairie at the
30:52
the work of prairie dogs and other family of subsoils, the
30:56
utter disregard of their perilous, sometimes as
30:58
courageous as it is rash, no matter what distance the cutting
31:05
you write it into the herd, every muscle, every faculty is
31:09
on alert, and the intelligence they display is almost human.
31:12
End quote.
31:14
While many cowboys were no doubt
31:17
techniques of their trade, contemporary accounts suggest
31:19
that one did not need to be a superlative horseman, roper or
31:23
crack shot to do the job. Bay state foreman James Shaw in
31:27
eighteen eighty four said, quote, any man who is not afraid
31:34
sense can get along well enough.
31:36
A man doesn't have to throw a lasso like a Mexican vaquero,
31:39
nor shoot a revolver like a ten cent novel Texas Ranger to be a
31:46
Not be afraid of getting tired
31:49
stick to his knitting, rain or
31:52
End quote. Charley O'Kieffe, who worked as
31:55
a cowboy on Sheridan County Ranches, offered a similar
31:58
assessment quote among the score
32:02
personally Eighteen eighty four and eighteen ninety eight.
32:05
None were crack shots, although they could all shoot straight
32:11
off some sneaky coyote, or ending the sufferings of a horse
32:17
Most of these boys were good horsemen, handy with a rope for
32:19
legitimate uses in all capable of doing the daily tasks on the
32:27
furnished the horses, the cowboy
32:31
brittle lariat, firearms and clothing.
32:33
Rolf Johnson saw cowboys in Sydney in eighteen seventy nine
32:37
and described their outfits as,
32:40
a herder or cowboy is white, broad brimmed hat, a blue
32:45
woollen shirt with wide collar and silk necktie, leather
32:48
leggings or buckskin breeches fringed at the seams.
32:52
Fine tight boots, an old army overcoat, a belt around his
32:55
waist full of cartridges, one or
32:59
Bowie knife, a Winchester rifle, a pair of big spurs.
33:02
And last, though most important,
33:08
During his cowboy days in Wyoming, Bartlett Richards
33:11
wrote, quote, I wear a blue flannel shirt, blue trousers
33:14
tucked in my tall boots, tremendous great spurs.
33:17
Everyone wears them broad brimmed, light felt hat and
33:20
leather chaparrals, which are like trousers.
33:23
End quote. To carry small items, he said,
33:28
change of clothing in it a towel, tooth and hairbrush.
33:32
The last was quite unnecessary
33:35
cowpunchers outfit. Or, to tell the truth, any of
33:38
the last three. End quote.
33:40
The cost of gear such as chaps, saddles and revolvers no doubt
33:44
varied over time from place to place, but some contemporary
33:47
data is available. In eighteen seventy nine,
33:50
Richards paid ten dollars for a pair of chaps and thirty five
33:57
have been a California saddle costing from thirty to thirty
34:01
five dollars, which was fancier than a Texas saddle priced from
34:07
eighteen seventy eight advertisement in a North
34:09
Platte western Nebraskan. Texas Rig Saddles featured
34:12
double cinches instead of the single fire cinch of the
34:15
California saddle. Even cheaper common saddles were
34:22
cents. A huge variety of firearms was
34:27
percussion arms rendered obsolete by the post-war
34:30
availability of metallic cartridge types.
34:33
Among the most common of the latter were single and double
34:36
action revolvers produced by Colt and Smith and Wesson, along
34:43
Depending on the model caliber
34:46
revolvers ranged in price from
34:49
During the years from eighteen
34:53
Model eighteen seventy three Winchester rifles and carbines
35:00
seventies, but increasing production brought the price
35:03
down to about twenty eight dollars by eighteen eighty.
35:06
Most cowboys slept in the open, fully clothed, while on a drive
35:13
tarpaulin. If it rained, they likely got
35:16
wet. Sleep itself was at a premium
35:19
because controlling the cattle
35:29
since I have slept under shelter
35:32
End quote. Another hand working a Nebraska
35:36
roundup the same year mentioned
35:39
three nights. Quote, On inquiry, his reply was
35:45
End quote. The cowboys on trail drives or
35:52
worked longer hours than the other men.
35:55
While there were no standard design.
35:57
The North Platte Tribune described a locally manufactured
36:03
standard features as well as unique embellishments.
36:07
They wrote, quote, it was made
36:11
and had a box in the hind end, the width of the wagon box,
36:15
three and one half feet high and
36:22
when down, serves as a table. A chest in the center of the
36:26
wagon, divided longways with top
36:30
receptacle for provisions. A stand on each side serves one
36:34
for the water barrel and the other for the stove.
36:37
There is also a space at each end of the box holding the
36:40
stove, pipes and rope. The wagon is handsomely painted
36:43
there being on one side a steer
36:51
credit to its maker and will no doubt be the envy of the other
36:55
outfits, and especially the cooks, end quote.
36:58
As for food, Bratt recalled that
37:01
days, we would depend much on wild game shoulders and bacon,
37:09
sometimes honey. End quote.
37:11
Later, canned goods were often
37:15
powder biscuits. Absent wild game, the men could
37:19
butcher a steer. Bartlett Richards in eighteen
37:22
seventy nine had fresh meat, often along with potatoes,
37:25
canned tomatoes, oatmeal, rice, tea and coffee.
37:29
Sugar, white and brown. Always some kind of dried fruit.
37:34
blackberries, hominy, etc.. End quote.
37:37
One drawback was everything is
37:40
Ed Monroe did not fare as well
37:43
roundup in the Sandhills, complaining about, quote, yellow
37:50
end quote. During the spring and summer,
37:53
cowboys rarely had time for recreation.
37:56
Mac Radcliff mentioned that during a roundup, he and another
38:03
been sanctioned by the cooks losing much of the cooking
38:06
equipment in the process. John Bratt said Cowboys on the
38:14
occasional practical joke. The Roundup Nels Rowley was
38:17
working in eighteen eighty one, laid over for two days so the
38:24
Quote. We had a roping contest, riding
38:27
and horse races and a general
38:30
End quote. Early ranches were a long way
38:33
from town. Reading material was scarce and
38:36
cowboys had to make their own
38:43
Charley O'Kieffe recalled card playing and a variant of Indian
38:49
Otherwise. Quote, there was really nothing
38:51
much but Bronco riding and playing practical jokes on the
38:57
haying season. End quote.
39:00
Working constantly on horseback,
39:03
dangerous, particularly due to the nasty disposition in the
39:06
size of the open range cattle that he had to manage.
39:10
Only the largest and strongest
39:13
Texas, and longhorns were generally kept on the range
39:16
until four years old. By then, a steer could weigh
39:20
well over one thousand pounds.
39:24
a cattle drive on the Republican river noted that
39:26
Texans steer is one of the wickedest and most
39:29
unmanageable wild beasts in the world when not moving with a
39:33
herd. End quote.
39:35
A few years later, a Nebraska cattleman wrote that Texas
39:38
cattle are not afraid of a man, nor are they afraid of a horse,
39:45
To get off a horse in a herd of wild Texas cattle is almost
39:48
worth a man's life. and an experienced herder will
39:54
Hans Gertler, working at John Bratts Home Ranch, was knocked
40:00
lariat. Only the steers flaring horns
40:02
prevented girder from being gored.
40:05
While cowboys would not voluntarily go afoot in the
40:08
midst of a herd or at most other
40:12
were sometimes unhorsed during a mad scramble to control a
40:15
stampede, an accident that could prove fatal.
40:19
Stampedes often occurred at night, sometimes caused by
40:22
thunderstorms, and the horses risked stumbling into animal
40:25
burrows or plunging over cut banks during the headlong rush
40:36
In one instance, the cowboy and his horse were, quote, mashed
40:41
The only thing you could recognize was the handle of his
40:44
six shooter. End quote.
40:46
In other cases, cowboys or ranch
40:49
injuries or death, doing what seemed to be routine work.
40:53
In eighteen eighty, John C Henry, a Custer County
40:56
cattleman, was cutting out from a herd at Loup River roundup
41:00
when his horse stumbled through him and he fell on him.
41:04
Henry died three hours later. Ed Wilder broke his leg when he
41:08
was thrown from his horse while
41:11
eighteen seventy five. Less severe injuries could still
41:17
foreman Richard E Bean got his thumb tangled in his lariat
41:21
while roping a cow, nearly tearing it off.
41:25
One of John Bratt's cowboys broke his collarbone and
41:28
dislocated his thumb in a fall
41:37
generously assured him that his doctor bills and other expenses
41:44
End quote. The elements, including
41:46
lightning and blizzards, were constant hazards to men whose
41:50
work kept them outdoors. John Chipman, a Newman Ranch
41:53
cowboy, was killed by a stroke
42:04
eighty three blizzard while working as a cowboy in Wyoming.
42:07
His frozen lower legs and
42:09
fingers had to be amputated. Other cowboys drowned while
42:12
crossing streams on horseback,
42:22
Sometimes cowboys suffered fatal
42:29
eighteen eighty nine took a swig
42:32
night in the dark bunkhouse at Brat's Birdwood Ranch, but the
42:36
medicine turned out to be carbolic acid.
42:40
At his funeral in North Platte, quote, six cowboys dressed in
42:46
pallbearers riding in front of the hearse while following it
42:54
chaps thrown over the saddle,
43:00
Indians were also an occasional threat to lone cowboys riding
43:04
in the vastness of the Sandhills.
43:06
James Williamson was killed near
43:09
eighteen seventy nine, said to be by Brule Sioux from Spotted
43:13
Tail's Rosebud Reservation, located to the north.
43:16
In late July eighteen eighty, Lang Brothers ranch foreman
43:19
Jasper Southard disappeared during the annual roundup.
43:23
Subsequently, the agent at Rosebud learned that a small
43:26
agency band had killed a white
43:29
was on a horse stealing expedition to replace horses
43:32
that whites had stolen from the reservation.
43:35
Six Indians were arrested and held at Fort Randall for trial,
43:38
but released for lack of evidence well before Southard's
43:41
skeleton was finally discovered
43:53
adventurous young men. But the pay could not have been
43:57
the main incentive. Throughout the period, from
43:59
about eighteen seventy to eighteen ninety, the average
44:02
monthly wage ranged from thirty to forty dollars.
44:05
In eighteen seventy five, Texas cattlemen D H.
44:08
Snyder said that trail drivers used to be paid sixty to
44:12
seventy five dollars per month when the cowboys furnished
44:14
their own horses. But, quote, now we furnish the
44:24
an eighteen seventy nine trail drive at thirty dollars per
44:27
month. Bartlett Richards, while working
44:33
Bay state cowboy foreman James
44:36
Journal reporter in eighteen eighty four that, quote, good
44:39
men, including a cook, can be had at thirty five dollars a
44:43
month. End quote.
44:44
Willa Cather's cousin Kyd Clutter, riding home to Nebraska
44:50
cowboys are getting from thirty to forty dollars a
44:53
month, end quote. Low wages were further diluted
45:00
cattle were simply left to fend
45:03
When asked what became of these men, the Bay State's Shaw
45:06
responded, quote, they go somewhere either east or to the
45:10
mountain towns and get work at something else for the winter.
45:13
A good many go to their homes in
45:17
End quote. He added, quote, there is always
45:23
The boys naturally come out for work just as harvest hands turn
45:29
John Bratt saw benefits in keeping most of his cowboys on
45:38
cowboys in the fall, said Bratt,
45:42
and cattle thieves out of them than anything they could do.
45:45
The summer's wages of a cowboy
45:50
winter? He had to live and to live he
45:53
was forced to steal. End quote.
45:55
Some cowboys drifted from ranch to ranch during the off season,
46:06
James Dahlman stayed on at the
46:12
It included chopping and hauling
46:16
corral poles, and building barns, ice houses and corrals.
46:21
cowboys preferred job of handling cattle from horseback,
46:24
and, according to Dahlman, quote, the Texas puncher was
46:27
always sighing for spring. End quote.
46:30
Conflicting stereotypes have grown up about Cowboys character
46:41
lazy, immoral, backward and prone to violence.
46:44
As Richard Slatta had observed, quote, cowboys were no paragons
46:51
had it. Nor were they the uncouth
46:54
barbarians of the plains described by Self-anointed
46:56
spokesmen of civilization and culture, end quote.
47:00
Perception of cowboys often depended on when and where
47:04
observers encountered them, or
47:06
cowboys at all. That they were seen as different
47:13
referred to them as a peculiar
47:17
creature, or a peculiar set of
47:21
During the early open range years, most townsfolk saw
47:24
cowboys only when they finished weeks or months of hard,
47:28
dangerous work on the trail or
47:31
resupply and blow off steam with
47:35
In this setting, violence often resulted.
47:39
Sensational events such as the
47:42
homesteaders Mitchell and Ketchum by Print Olive in his
47:45
cowboys in eighteen seventy eight, and the trials that
47:47
followed shaped many Nebraskans perception of cowboy behavior.
47:52
Such episodes were widely
47:54
reported in the newspapers. Most Nebraskans, even those
47:57
living in cattle country, rarely
48:00
work with cattle that occupied most of their time.
48:04
Most of the fatal encounters were between cowboys themselves,
48:10
In October of eighteen seventy
48:24
stroke and left his adversary quote to bake in the fire like
48:27
a Texas yam. End quote.
48:30
In September eighteen seventy nine, the Omaha Weekly Bee
48:33
reported that an Anglo cowboy fatally shot a Mexican at a
48:36
ranch near Big Springs during a dispute over which of them was
48:39
the best roper. Instances of cowboys being
48:42
involved in gunplay with civilians or law officers also
48:48
cowboy raid on Kearney in October of eighteen seventy
48:52
four, when several Texas herders
48:59
eighteen seventy five murder by Texas cowboy Jordan Smith
49:03
of Milton Collins, a Kearney farmer who was protesting
49:06
damage to his cornfield by the herders horses.
49:10
In July of eighteen seventy nine, Deputy Sheriff Joe Hughes
49:13
of Ogallala killed Hunter and
49:15
Cowboy William Shook and William
49:22
street during the eighteen seventies.
49:24
Nebraska newspapers recorded some fourteen fatalities from
49:28
cowboy violence, some taking place in town and some on the
49:32
range. The eighteen eighty mortality
49:34
census of Sioux County listed three additional cowboys who
49:37
died from gunshots. Whether accidental or
49:39
deliberate, is not recorded under the headline the people
49:44
want relief from bloodthirsty Texas Herders.
49:47
The North Platte western Nebraskan summed up public
49:50
reaction to several episodes of cowboy violence in eighteen
49:53
seventy four and eighteen seventy five, but the article
49:56
also seems to concede that cowboys as a group were not to
50:01
There are many number one fellows among the herders who
50:05
come up the trail. Yet there are a few drinking,
50:08
bullying and desperate cusses among each outfit whose ambition
50:15
Not long since, one of the latter classes poured five shots
50:22
bathing and then escaped towards
50:24
And now comes the sad news that a peaceable farmer by the name
50:28
of Collins, living near Kearney, was shot to death
50:31
without mercy by a herder last week, who then with his party,
50:35
rode off without ceremony. Besides these two cold blooded
50:41
Not so bad, but of the same kind, has characterized some of
50:45
the herders who came up the trail this year.
50:48
Our citizens demand most emphatically that they shall be
50:51
delivered from the possibility of injury from the source
50:54
referred to. No objection is implied in this
50:57
demand against the business that brings into the country
51:00
cattle herders by no means. But it is seriously insisted
51:04
that proprietors of herds shall not employ men to do their
51:08
driving and herding, who are known to be drunkards.
51:10
And worse than that, villains of
51:14
hesitate to shoot on the slightest provocation or even
51:17
seek opportunities to murder men, as in the case of Collins.
51:21
This is what the people demand
51:25
cattle dealers to look after this matter and employ men in
51:29
Texas or elsewhere to do their
51:33
reliable. End quote.
51:35
Perhaps in response to such outbreaks, it was reported in
51:37
eighteen seventy nine that several stockmen had decided
51:40
they would not hire cowboys who insisted on carrying revolvers.
51:46
effect because two years later, the North Platte Republican
51:49
noted, quote, there were upwards
51:53
town Monday, starting on the roundup.
51:55
It was a good thing to see that,
51:58
revolvers. Only a few years ago, these
52:00
weapons were as plentiful and round up parties as Spurs and
52:04
Quirts, end quote. After the July eighteen seventy
52:07
nine shootout in Ogallala city,
52:14
such a time that they were ready to leave for camp.
52:17
A North Platte newspaper called it, quote, a sensible
52:20
precautionary measure which should be enforced in our city.
52:23
End quote.
52:24
It did not, however, mark the end of fatalities by gunfire in
52:28
Ogallala. The frequency of fatal cowboy
52:31
violence reported by the newspaper seemed to remain
52:34
fairly steady. Through the eighteen eighties,
52:39
cowboys, often fueled by alcohol, killing one another.
52:43
The outbreaks usually took place
52:46
ranches, and rarely involved non cowboys.
52:50
Exceptions were at Minden in October of eighteen eighty two,
52:53
where Hitchcock County Sheriff Jack woods had trailed two
52:56
cowboy rustlers in the shootout that followed.
52:59
In a local restaurant, the fugitives killed the sheriff and
53:05
Another episode was at Anselmo
53:08
seven, when two drunken cowboys shooting up the town were
53:11
killed by Custer County Sheriff Charles Penn and his
53:15
deputies. Sources suggest a total of about
53:23
Nebraska ranches and were encountered more frequently.
53:26
Perceptions of their behavior and character began to change.
53:34
the local press. These outbreaks were usually
53:36
attributed to the influence of
53:39
The antagonists deliberately picked a fight.
53:43
Such was the case when an Ogallala newspaper in eighteen
53:49
nearby Julesburg, Colorado, for drunken cowboys entered a local
53:57
available object, offering a mark pictures, mirrors,
54:00
decanters and stacks of boxed cigars being shattered in their
54:04
turn. Two of the men were arrested and
54:10
Contrasting with the Western Nebraska's eighteen seventy five
54:17
The same paper in eighteen eighty one rose to the Cowboys
54:26
They deported themselves like men and gave the lie to the
54:30
false stories that are told about them so often and so
54:33
freely. In papers published in the
54:35
tenderfoot regions down East End
54:38
When an apparently sensational
54:41
cowboys appeared in The Philadelphia Times, the Sidney
54:46
Quote if these tenderfoot correspondents possessed a
54:50
little more brains and good sense, it would be better for
54:53
the human race. Our cowboys of Nebraska and
54:56
Wyoming are perfect gentlemen,
55:00
that makes a man. End quote.
55:02
Bartlett Richards thought his fellow cowboys quote, swearing,
55:05
vulgar fellows as a usual thing, but they are the most
55:08
generous, kind hearted men that ever lived.
55:10
Would give you their last cent
55:14
their power. One only wishes that some morals
55:21
In another article, the Sidney
55:24
while admitting that they were quick to seek revenge.
55:27
If someone, quote, steals a horse or is hunting for a
55:30
fight, end quote. Nevertheless, quote there are
55:33
few murderers and cutthroats graduated from the cowboys
55:36
than from the better educated class from the East who come
55:40
out here for gain, end quote.
55:41
Texas cattleman C.C. Slaughter in eighteen eighty
55:44
two summed up his opinion of
55:49
changed by saying, quote, that cowboy is not the reckless
55:52
semi savage of ten years ago.
55:54
The cowboy is, as I have found him, thoroughly loyal to his
56:01
town after his exile on the plains, he makes the most of
56:03
his opportunity to enjoy himself
56:07
the cowboy is a very different character.
56:09
When you meet him in his camp, or with his blanket and his
56:12
horse upon the plains. If you were loaded down with
56:15
money, he would not rob you. Such a thought would probably
56:18
never enter his head. But if you were in want, you
56:21
could count to a certainty on his assisting you, end quote.
56:25
John Bratt devoted a chapter
56:28
stories about some of the cowboys who worked for him
56:31
during his twenty five years in the cattle business.
56:33
While there were a few miscreants among them, Bratt
56:37
characterized most as, quote, whole souled, generous, big
56:41
hearted and ever faithful. End quote.
56:42
Although a bit of nostalgia likely crept into the elderly
56:46
ranch man's recall of his Trails of Yesterday, as he
56:49
titled his book, it seems clear that his relations with
56:53
cowboys were a highlight of his life.
56:55
By the later eighteen eighties, the day of Nebraska's
56:58
open range cowboy was nearly done.
57:01
The wild, unruly herders of the early years had become
57:04
respected community members who did not always have to
57:07
frequent saloons or gambling halls to enjoy themselves.
57:10
And the latter institutions, while still present, were no
57:13
longer the main attractions. Once towns such as Ogallala
57:16
and Sidney moved beyond their turbulent years as cattle
57:20
emporium's. The changes are suggested by
57:22
the Keith County News report of the fall of eighteen eighty
57:28
unwinding from the summer's work.
57:30
Quote The Ogallala Cattle Company's punchers had oyster
57:33
suppers at the Palace restaurant Wednesday and
57:36
Thursday nights. The cowboys enjoyed themselves
57:38
immensely, end quote. The same issue noted, quote
57:42
the cowboys from the North Country had their annual fair
57:45
and circus last night after a hard summer's work.
57:47
The boys are perfectly good natured in their fun.
57:50
End quote. By eighteen eighty eight, the
57:53
few remaining large Nebraska cattle outfits, such as the
57:56
Bay state and the Ogallala Land and Cattle Company were moving
58:00
their herds to Wyoming and Montana, where open ranges were
58:04
still available. Both the Sidney and Ogallala
58:07
newspapers took note when seventy five Bay state Cowboys
58:10
came to Sidney in late May, preparing for, quote, what
58:13
will probably be the last general roundup through the
58:16
section of the country, end quote.
58:18
The editor noted, quote, as the cavalcade rode slowly out
58:21
of town. There were not a few among the
58:24
watching spectators who regretted that the cowboy had
58:26
gone, never to return to this region again, end quote.
58:30
A month earlier, the Keith County News published a poem
58:33
entitled The Cowboy's Farewell that had been, quote, handed
58:41
number in town during the present week.
58:43
But there were only a handful compared with the crowds that
58:46
gathered at Ogallala in the days when the Texas cattle drive
58:52
cattlemen commonly called cowboys.
58:54
As the song indicates, the days of the cowboy are past, and
59:01
though in a position that conflicts with the cowboy's
59:03
interests, are generally of the opinion that a more
59:06
gentlemanly class of men never have roamed in any country.
59:10
End quote. A glance through the published
59:13
histories of Nebraska counties located in cattle country, or
59:18
biographical sketches and obituaries that have appeared
59:20
in the pages of the Nebraska Cattleman magazine will reveal
59:23
that not all the cowboys of Nebraska's open range day
59:27
simply rode off into the sunset.
59:29
Many moved up to become ranch men themselves, while others
59:33
found new lives in law enforcement, politics or
59:36
business. Among notable examples are
59:38
Bartlett Richards, who assumed management of the thirty three
59:41
ranch in Sioux County in eighteen thirty three, helped
59:44
found the First National Bank of Chadron in eighteen eighty
59:47
five and purchased a Sandhills
59:53
Cook left cowboy work to become a market hunter, and in
59:57
eighteen eighty seven bought a Niobrara River ranch from
1:00:00
his father in law, where he lived until he died in nineteen
1:00:03
forty two. Today it is the site of Agate
1:00:07
Fossil Beds National Monument. Texas cowboy James Dahlman
1:00:10
went on to become Dawes County Sheriff, Chadron mayor and
1:00:14
from nineteen oh six to nineteen thirty, with one
1:00:18
interruption, the cowboy mayor
1:00:22
Bear" Iaeger, who froze his feet and fingers in Wyoming in
1:00:26
eighteen eighty three, settled in Chadron in eighteen eighty
1:00:29
five and served as Justice of the Peace City Clerk, clerk of
1:00:33
the County Court and the deputy clerk of the District
1:00:36
Court before his death in nineteen thirty.
1:00:38
John Finch, who worked for the olives on the Loup, left the
1:00:42
range in eighteen eighty six to run a drugstore in Arnold.
1:00:45
For more than fifty years, the first sheriffs of Scottsbluff
1:00:49
and Sheridan counties, Thomas J.
1:00:51
Fanning and John Riggs, respectively, were former
1:00:54
cowboys, and Riggs later started his own ranch.
1:00:57
Others, such as Robert "Arkansas Bob" Gillaspie, Nels
1:01:05
Sam Hudson filed homesteaders or timber claims
1:01:07
in the eighteen eighties and eighteen nineties and stocked
1:01:10
them with a few cattle forming the nuclei of ranches, adding
1:01:14
to their holdings with tracks patented by family members or
1:01:18
by buying out relinquished claims.
1:01:20
The Ranchman patiently assembled enough land to sustain
1:01:26
when settlers sold out after
1:01:32
By the nineteen thirties, ranchers, including many
1:01:36
descended from former cowboys, had reclaimed the sandhills
1:01:39
and much of western Nebraska for grazing.
1:01:41
Roundups had long since been given away to fenced ranges.
1:01:45
Hay was harvested during the summer to sustain the herds in
1:01:49
the winter. Windmills dotted the
1:01:51
landscape. Branding was done in corrals
1:01:57
ranch duties. By the early twentieth
1:01:59
century, about all that remained
1:02:03
was nostalgia. It found expression with the
1:02:06
founding of Valentine in September nineteen twelve of
1:02:09
the Northwestern Roundup, a reunion of former cowboys.
1:02:12
Quote, their meetings were to be remembered old times, days
1:02:19
routine or interesting happenings of bygone days,
1:02:21
end quote. The organization met annually
1:02:23
and had two hundred and fifty members at its peak.
1:02:27
By the time the Northwestern Roundup folded in nineteen
1:02:30
twenty one, many of the members were elderly and others
1:02:33
had passed away, along with almost everything from the old
1:02:40
Thank you for listening to the Nebraska History Podcast.
1:02:44
To learn more about Nebraska History Magazine, to listen
1:02:47
to more podcast episodes, or to support the podcast by
1:02:50
becoming a member of the Nebraska State Historical
1:02:53
Society, go to history dot Nebraska dot gov slash
1:02:56
podcast. And don't forget to subscribe
1:02:58
to the podcast and get notified when we release new
1:03:01
episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
1:03:04
Until next time, I'm Chris