There are hundreds of movies today about cowboys. These movies idealize the lifestyle of cowboys and there adventurous lives in the Wild West. We are fascinated by cowboys because they represent the best of America: they lived free in the open plains. Cowboys enjoyed a famed era in the 19th century, and even though cowboys have long since become obsolete, we continue to admire them and their role in the Wild West.
The origin of cowboys can be traced back to the vaqueros. Vaqueros were Mexican horse riders that looked after the cows of ranchers. When ranching expanded more into the South-Western United States many non-Mexicans were inspired by their techniques and adopted their lifestyle.
Manifest destiny of the mid 1800's had a big impact on cowboys. With the expansion of the railroads, cattle was transported across the country. There became a great demand for cowboys who rounded up the cattle and herded them. The demand for cowboys also increased because of the increase in the demand for meat. This was because during the civil war more meat was needed to feed the troops. There was also a greater demand for cattle because the meat-packing system was growing in places like Chicago. This was the golden age for cowboys as the price of cattle was $40 per cow. Cowboys themselves made around $25 to $40 a month.
However, the role of the cowboy began to decline due to many factors beginning in the 1880's. Cowboys needed large amounts of open land to drive the cattle over. However, in the 1880's that vast open land was quickly disappearing. This was because more people were migrating to the west. People built homes and the land became privatized. Even worse was that barbed wire was invented and many settlers put up barbed wire which cut off land from the cowboys. There was also a very harsh winter in 1886-1867 that killed a lot of the cattle and put many cowboys out of work.
Yet cowboys have not completely disappeared. There are still cowboys today in some rural states. They try their best to emulate the culture and lifestyle of the cowboys of the 19th century. The free lifestyle of the cowboys will continue to captivate our imaginations and be a defining part of of what it means to be American. Thus cowboy's will never truly disappear.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/cowboys
https://sites.google.com/a/wcsga.net/turn-of-the-century-wild-wild-west/cowboys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy
Thanks for this super interesting post, Owen! I remember learning about cowboys in middle school, but we didn't go into any detail this year. I found it fascinating that the stereotypical "American" cowboy was only present for about 70 years, whereas the Spanish vaqueros had a history spanning more than double that. Even the cowboy jargon came from Spanish: “buckaroo” comes from "vaquero", and "dally" (a wrap) comes from the Spanish phrase "dar la vuelta". Other shared phrases include chaps from "chaparreras", rodeo from "rodear" (to surround), and most directly, remuda from remudar (to exchange). The impact Spanish culture had on what is commonly viewed as an American era -- the Old West-- is still evident today.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.americancowboy.com/ranch-life-archive/history-vaquero
I agree with Karenna, Thanks Owen for you Post! I really like how you went into depth about the hard work of being a cow boy and how expensive cattle were. It took there entire months salary for one!!!! That's insane. But it was very important to show the work ethic of a cow boy and also how much factories and quicker access to meats became the better choice. Also cheaper.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this link below for more!
https://westwardlife.weebly.com/cowboys-ranchers.html