Cowboys

People who ride horses and tend cattle or horses for pay; rodeo performers. This article will examine cowboying as an occupation, cowboy clothing, and cowboy work. It addresses conflicting images of cowboys, cowboys in popular culture and rodeo, and concludes with a discussion on modern cowboys.

Introduction

Today cowboys most often work on cattle and/or horse ranches. From 1865 through the 1880s, however, thousands of cowboys herded cattle on long trail drives north from Texas. Also called cowhand, hand, waddie, cowpuncher, or buckaroo, the cowboy works on horseback and dislikes any labor on foot. He has become an internationally recognized symbol of the American West. Rodeo competitors appropriated the term “cowboy,” but many such performers have no background in ranch work. Historically, cowboys have been men, but during the twentieth century a few cowgirls joined the ranks. Poet Georgie Sicking of Fallon, Nevada, worked much of her life as a salaried cowhand.

Cowboying as an Occupation

Modern usage of the term “cowboy,” first in hyphenated form, dates from the 1830s in Texas. Colonel John S. “Rip” Ford used the word “cow-boy” to describe the Texas border raider who drove off Mexican cattle during the 1830s. The term carried a tinge of wildness, of life at the fringes of law and civilization. After the American Civil War, Westerners applied the term cowboy to ranch hands rather than cattle thieves.

Unlike the bold, dashing, romantic, heroic figure invented by pulp writers, the cowboy in reality was a poorly paid laborer engaged in difficult, dirty, dangerous work. In the 1870s hands earned about $20 to $25 per month plus “found” (food). During the 1880s wages rose to $30 to $40. By the 1930s wages still hovered around $45 a month.

California buckaroo Dick Gibford (American Cowboy, Fall 1992) reported making $225 per month in 1966 “cowboyin’ and breakin’ horses.” According to The Wall Street Journal (June 10, 1981), Arizona hands then earned about $500 per month plus bed and board. The cow boss in charge of a ranch could make $1,150. Cow boss Jim Miller describes cowboying as “still the lowest-paid job for what you have to know and do.” By the early 1990s cowboy wages had crept up to between $700 and $1,000 per month. In late 2006, the Sandhills Cattle Association in Nebraska surveyed cash wages for ranch hands. The cowboys averaged $1,638 per month and worked on average 55 hours per week. In early 2008, a rancher in South Dakota offered hands an annual salary of $20,000, $5,000 below jobs offered in southeastern Oregon.

Contrary to B-western movie and pulp novel depictions, not all cowboys are white. Racial distribution of the rural labor force varies from place to place. On the northern ranges of Montana and Alberta most hands are white. Hispanic cowboys (vaqueros) predominated on the ranges of Spanish California and eastern Oregon in the nineteenth century. Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico ranchers still hire many skilled vaqueros. African- American cowboys also figure prominently, especially on southern ranges. Native Americans work cattle and horses in Oklahoma, South Dakota, New Mexico and elsewhere.

Cowboy Clothing

Cowboy dress varies with climate and terrain. Early Texas cowboys borrowed large sombreros and other items of Mexican vaquero clothing. Beginning in the 1870s John B. Stetson and other manufacturers made broad-brimmed beaver pelt hats that offered welcome shade from the sun’s strong rays. On southern ranges, some hands may favor a cooler straw hat made by Bailey or another manufacturer. Early cowboys wore durable wool or canvas pants. Blue denim jeans became part of the standard outfit after Levi Strauss began sewing his sturdy pants in the 1850s. Today Wrangler has replaced Levi’s as the favorite jeans of rodeo and ranch folks. Facing the reality of more chores done on foot, some cowboys have added walking or athletic shoes to their favored high-heeled boots. Baseball caps appear alongside cowboy hats.

Trail hands up from Texas convinced Kansas boot makers to modify footwear to the cowboy’s needs. They wanted high boot tops to keep out dirt and protect the lower leg. High heels keep the foot securely in the stirrup. Spurs dangle from the boot heels, adding a merry jingle and a measure of extra control over a horse.

A bandanna (“wipe”) protects the face against alkali dust when a hand rides “drag” behind a herd. A leather vest and leather chaps provide warmth and protection against thorns and cacti. The cowboy’s leather chaps originated in the Mexican vaquero’s chaparreras. His early spurs were big Chihuahuas from Mexico.

Like his dress, the cowboy’s saddle and tack reflect strong Hispanic influence. The western stock saddle, with long stirrups, high cantle, and a large, sturdy horn, is modeled on the Mexican vaquero’s saddle. Likewise the lariat (la reata), hackamore (jdquimd), McCarty (mecate), and many other pieces of equipment come from Mexico. Like vaqueros and charros (gentlemen riders in Mexico), cowboys liked conchos, round shell-like silver decorations, on their chaps and other equipment.

Cowboy Work

Trail drives and roundups occupied most hands during the nineteenth century. From 1865 to 1880 cowboys drove at least 3.5 million cattle from Texas to cattle towns in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. Herds generally ranged in size from 1,500 and 3,000 animals. The greatest number of herds traveled the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas. Working up to 20 hours a day, cowboys drove the animals from one watering place to the next. They had to guard against predators, straying cattle and stampedes.

The westward extension of railroads and quarantines against longhorns with fever-bearing ticks eliminated the long cattle drives. Epic drives and open-range herding gave way to transportation by large trucks and rail cars.

During the past century youths, college graduates, immigrants and others in search of adventure eagerly tried their hand at cowboying. Ranchers could impose restrictions on their hands, such as forbidding gambling and drinking.

Ranchers could replace disgruntled cowboys quickly and easily. Cowboys made a few attempts to strike for better wages and conditions. These strikes failed owing to the political clout of wealthy ranchers and the surplus of hands on the range.

By the late nineteenth century much of the western range had been fenced or turned to crop production. Fencing reduced ranch labor needs. It also gave working hands another chore—stringing and tending fence. Cowboys also had to stoop to agricultural labor and put up hay for winter feed.

Conflicting Images of Cowboys

Ranch and rodeo cowboys have often generated unfavorable appraisals. When observed “hellin’ ’round town,” cowboys draw sharp criticism. Police records and contemporary press accounts well document the cowboy’s penchant for gambling, drinking and fighting. According to the Topeka Commonwealth (August 15, 1871), “The Texas cattle herder is a character, the like of which can be found nowhere else on earth. Of course he is unlearned and illiterate, with but few wants and meager ambition. His diet is principally navy plug and whiskey and the occupation dearest to his heart is gambling.”

In contrast, John Baumann (Fortnightly Review, April 1, 1887) described the cowboy as “a loyal, longenduring, hard-working fellow, grit to the backbone, and tough as whipcord; performing his arduous and often dangerous duties, and living his comfortless life, without a word of complaint about the many privations he has to undergo.” Observers who watch hands sweating at work on the range, riding, roping and branding, marvel at their strength, skill, courage and hard work.

Like his carousing, cowboy gunplay has been exaggerated to titillate movie and pulp novel fans. A Colt revolver is too heavy and uncomfortable to pack all day. On trail drives or roundups, most cowboys leave their guns in the chuckwagon. Most hands are not particularly good shots nor are sidearms very accurate. Some old-time cowboys did carry powerful and accurate carbines or rifles on their saddles. Self-conscious of their image, however, most nineteenth-century hands strapped on a six-shooter and perhaps flourished a carbine to add a macho touch to their photographs.

Cowboys in Popular Culture and Rodeo

During the 1880s pulp novels, circuses and Wild West shows brought a stalwart, romantic cowboy hero to a nostalgic public. Although far removed from the drab truth of real cowboy life, the image of excitement, freedom and drama continues to dominate popular accounts of the cattle frontier. The cowboy was and is the most mythologized of all rural folk.

As open-range ranching declined in the late nineteenth century, dude ranches opened employment opportunities for some cowhands. “Wrangling dudes” rather than horses and cattle, however, seem disgraceful to many cowboys. They disdainfully call the dude ranch cowboy a “savage,” “dude puncher,” or “dudolo” (a word play on gigolo).

In the early twentieth century rodeo competitors appropriated the terms “cowboy” and “cowgirl” to describe themselves. As early as the 1880s, local boosters in North Platte, Nebraska (1882), Pecos, Texas (1883), and other towns recognized the appeal of “cowboy tournaments.” From such beginnings grew the giant rodeos and stampedes at Cheyenne, Pendleton, Calgary and elsewhere.

Today rodeo performers far outnumber working cowhands. Both groups preserve elements of traditional cowboy culture. Despite complaints from animal rights protesters, millions of spectators annually attend rodeos or view the action on television. For example, about 175,000 people attend the 10-day National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas each year. A few competitors, such as bull riders Ty Murray and Matt Austin, make it big, earning about $300,000 in a season. Like the ranch hand, however, many rodeo riders end the season with more bumps and bruises than money.

Cowboys have become internationally recognized icons in western art, folklore, literature and films. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell inspired hundreds of later artists to depict cowboy life in paint and bronze. “Teddy Blue” Abbott, Andy Adams, Charlie Siringo and hundreds more cowboys committed their often embellished memoirs in print. Ned Buntline’s nickel- and-dime pulp literature led the way in romanticizing and glorifying cowboy heroes for a mass audience. The novels of Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour and countless other pulp writers continue to sell well. Subsequently, cowboy heroes graced movie and then television screens.

Since the mid-1980s, a cowboy authenticity movement has brought back real ranch and cowboy culture. Poets, such as Wally McRae, capture the problems and wonders of ranch life. Major annual events, like the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration in Lubbock, Texas, keep cowboy traditions alive. Singers, like New Mexico’s Michael Martin Murphey and Alberta’s Ian Tyson, bring old-time cowboy songs to a generation that had never heard them. Hat, tack, and saddle makers have revived the beauty and craftsmanship of cowboy material culture. Popular glossy magazines, like Cowboys & Indians and American Cowboy, let readers vicariously ride the range.

Modern Cowboy

At spring (and smaller fall) roundups, ranchers still employ extra hands. Cowboys scour the range and herd cattle to a central location. They separate animals by outfit, brand calves, castrate young bulls, dehorn some, and select those to be taken to market. Branding irons today may be heated by propane gas instead of buffalo chip or wood fires. With the heat, dust and smoke, however, roundup looks much like it did a century or more ago.

The cowboy’s low socioeconomic status limits his options for marriage and family life. Women, still relatively scarce in cattle country, usually marry ranchers or merchants, not poor, itinerant cowhands. Ranchers (“cowmen”) own land and cattle; cowboys do not own land and seldom own cattle. Few hands can save enough of their meager wages to become ranchers themselves.

Given the low wages and long hours, men and women obviously do not cowboy to get rich. They like the natural beauty in which they work. They like, in Ian Tyson’s phrase, how the world looks through a horse’s ears. Many want to avoid the shackles and stress of modernity that fetter urbanites. Still independent, cowboys do nicely without office gossip, fax machines, and leaf blowers.

Cowboys retain their own code of conduct. The cowboy believes in working hard and doing one’s best. A top hand should be loyal, uncomplaining, helpful and chivalrous toward women. Good hands “ride for the brand”; that is, they loyally support and defend their employer and his interests. Top hands require little but they demand respect. If they don’t get it, they don’t protest; they quit. As a century ago, they go the extra mile to find a lost calf. While cowboys are fewer these days, the cowboy spirit remains alive and well.

— Richard W. Slatta

See also

• Careers in Agriculture; Films, Rural; Folklore; History, Agricultural; Horse Industry; Ranching

References

• Dary, David. Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries. New York, NY: Knopf, 1981. Paperbound ed. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.
• Davis, Robert Murray. Playing Cowboys: Low Culture and High Art in the Western. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
• Martin, Russell. Cowboy: The Enduring Myth of the Wild West. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1983.
• Savage, William W., Jr. The Cowboy Hero: His Image in American History and Culture. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
• Slatta, Richard W. Cowboy: The Illustrated History. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, 2006.
• Slatta, Richard W. The Cowboy Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1994.
• Ward, Fay E. The Cowboy at Work. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958, 1987.
• Westermeier, Clifford P., ed. Trailing the Cowboy: His Life and Lore as Told by Frontier Journalists. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1955.
• Wooden, Wayne S. and Cavin Ehringer. Rodeo in America: Wranglers, Roughstock, and Paydirt. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996.