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OPINION
Wranglers—Cattle—Breaking Horses—Stampedes!! This is what we think about when we see the American Cowboy. The U.S. Senate has declared July 28 as the National Day of the Cowboy. The goal is to make the 4th Saturday in July the official day that permanently honors the cowboy, and his impact to our history. The cowboy figured most significantly in American history from about the end of the American Civil War through the 1890s. Transportation facilities were scanty in the west and southwest. U.S. Cattle had to be driven to shipping points over long distances, and the cowboy needed great strength, and endurance. Because of the lack of adequate law enforcement, his duties extended to providing security for his ranch and its stock. The lifestyle of a cowboy on the Great Plains was a lonely one. This isolation can be seen through the sad lyrics in cowboy songs and woeful words in cowboy poetry. The real definition of a cowboy is “a mounted herder hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their stock. “ Cowboys keep the cattle together, guide them to pasture, prevent their being mixed with other droves, protect them from rustlers, brand them, and drive them to the shipping point. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work in and participate in rodeos, and many cowboys work only in the rodeo. In the good ol’ days the cowboy was the glue that held the West together. Ranchers would hire cowboys to keep a watchful eye over the herds on the wide open range. Although the addition of the fenced in herds has removed some of the need for cowboys, you can still see the skills that these old cowboys had by attending a rodeo. Even today cowboys show off their talent with bull riding, using the lasso, and roping and tying steers. http://www.truecowboy.com/history.php. In the early 1500’s ‘horned’ cattle from Spain came to the Americas. The ancestors of these Spanish Cattle became known as the Texas Longhorn. Large herds were driven through Colorado during the 1800s under the watchful eyes Col. Charles Goodnight. That route became known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail passed to the east of Colorado Springs on the way to stockyards in Denver and on north. Of course the most notable feature of any cowboy is the hat. It is the one item of apparel that can be worn in any corner of the world and receive immediate recognition. The most well know hat is the Stetson, named after John B. Stetson. He fashioned an enormous hat with a huge brim as a joke, but the hat was noted to be big enough to protect a man from sun, rain, and all the rigors the outdoors could throw at him. As the old cowboy saying goes, ‘It’s the last thing you take off and the first thing that is noticed (http://www.cowboyhathistory.org/). So on this coming Saturday take a moment to think about the cowboys that helped tame the West. Bonnie Nelson is a freelance writer living in Fountain, CO. If you have any comments or questions, email her at waltbon@comcast.net
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