The great american cowboy

While Hollywood western icon john Wayne was considered widely as the great cowboy defining the shows he was in with his ability. Too many of the people who grew up watching john Wayne in the 50’s it was not actual life of a cowboy. The actual life of a cowboy was hard and dangerous.  While Hollywood portrayed them as good honest people, who always do the right thing, it is honestly untrue. In the article I will talk about many of the ways of which in 1800’s cowboy lived and worked.

            In actuality the great American cowboy was born from the now greatly extinct cattle drives that required a high endurance level to stand up to since you literately had to travel 100’s of miles with few settlements nearby. You had to pack your own provisions to last you the journey and along with your steed (horse), you had to severely ration those provisions. Along with the costly risk of mistake of getting lost which could have severe penalties, including death by various means? Since in that time there was no GPS only primitive maps which could result in becoming lost in the area. If you are a greenhorn as the y where called before actually being called a cowboy.

Of the dangers one is the risk of being blindsided by one of the many creatures of the ol’ west. Along with the danger of actually having to herd the cattle and keep them on course proved to be quite a challenge since some breeds of cattle  where known to stampede or run over a cowboy. This could not be done alone, in essence you hear of cowboys traveling in what is known as gangs or groups. They have to spend weeks if not months crossing the great expanse of the west, herding the cattle to their destination usually the closest train depot located from Kansas and eastward .

 Most of the cowboys of the ol’ west carried some sort of firearm usually a hand gun depending on how much they are being paid and what they could afford .The reason for the need is presented by the dangers, such as the encounters with hostile Indians which may turn deadly.  However they also faced the danger of outlaw gangs which were known to prey upon the cattle herds for additional cash and or supplies and valuable belongings. Even some of the Cowboys them selves where not always on the right side of the law. Sometimes thieving from some of the little towns that dotted the west, and sometimes by orders of the cattle companies which at the time where some of the most powerful people in small communities. Would order them to steal cattle from a rival company or steal them from one of the drives the companies ran. In some cases they would kill the entire cowboy’s gang in the victims companies cattle drive or leave the m with few if any supplies, during the time there was sickness called Texas fever that affected the cattle and killed large amounts of the cattle. In response several cattle town became hostile against the cowboys usually farmers trying to protect their herd from the disease, in some incidents the farmers would actually kill the cowboys if they entered their land since most of the cow towns were under quarantine from the Texas Fever   

            However the life of a cow boy may have been hard and while many had succumbed to the vast distances and obstacles, and other dangers of the west. They became living legends on their own in the need for adventure, since in the 1800’s many people wanted to become a “cowboy” in the search for adventure