Much as this series has been interesting for me to share with you, this particular chapter is not one I have personally experienced. Nor is it one that I am likely to partake of in the future. However, being that I have friends in the “horsey” set, I’m sharing this with you today…
“I grew up a-dreamin’ of bein’ a cowboy,
and Lovin’ the cowboy ways.
Pursuin’ the life of my high-ridin’ heroes,
I burned up my childhood days.
I learned of all the rules of the modern-day drifter,
Don’t you hold on to nothin’ too long.
Just take what you need from the ladies, then leave them,
With the words of a sad country song.
My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams.
Cowboys are special with their own brand of misery,
From being alone too long.
You could die from the cold in the arms of a nightmare,
Knowin’ well that your best days are gone.
Pickin’ up hookers instead of my pen,
I let the words of my years fade away.
Old worn-out saddles, and ‘old worn-out memories,
With no one and no place to stay.
My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams.”
“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” by Sharon M. Vaughn
Cowboys are a part of my heritage. Well, one at least, and he was a vaquero, working on several ranches in Nevada’s Pine Valley (in Eureka County). And I have other cousins who did their time in the saddle out there in the same place over the last few decades.
My great grandfather (Christopher Cameron Walker or Chris) was born in Eureka, Nevada on October 7, 1881. Not long after, his parents moved off to a mining camp called Safford near the Central Pacific along the Humboldt River. As life goes, well… this was pretty bleak. The camp never really amounted to much. Lead silver was the ore, and there wasn’t much of that.
So, when at the age of twelve, his father announced it was time for him to go out into the world and make his own way, it probably did not come as much of a surprise. With little in the way of education and mining in decline, prospects were not what you would call exciting. (Much like looking for work in the Silicon Valley today; once the boom gone bust, most miners would move on to the next camp to try and strike it rich.)
What Chris did find was life on the back of a horse as a vaquero on the ranches up and down the Pine Valley. (Click here for a view of the area today.) Oddly, this part of the Silver State has water that seems to flow year-round, and that leads to good ranching and grazing lands.
As character Slim said in the film, “The Cowboys”, “There ain’t no Sunday’s west of Omaha.” Life on a ranch was pretty much the same, day in and day out. Work had to be done, and that’s what you did. There was no forty-hour workweek, no overtime after eight hours. Your day started at sun up and lasted until you were done.
Chris had one slouch hat, a pair of work boots, jeans, a jacket, gloves and a shirt (maybe three); and that’s what he wore day in, day out. When it got cold, he might wear all of his shirts.
One of the different things he might do during the course of a year on the ranch was to round up the wild mustangs that roamed the area. A buyer would come in from the East and take all the horses he could get. So that meant that guys like Chris would have to go out and do the work. According to an interview recorded in 1965, it would usually go something like this. The vaqueros would chase the wild horses into a box canyon and then get the herd ready to travel to the nearby railroad. It was pretty hard work as the mustangs were an unpredictable lot.
Chris said he was only thrown once from a horse while riding. It wasn’t his horse, but someone else’s and that guy didn’t want to ride it because he had been thrown! Chris was used to horses that didn’t like riders, so he said why not? Landed in a clump of sagebrush to cushion his fall luckily.
For something to do to amuse themselves, the ranch hands would get together a pot, maybe of six bits, and find someone crazy enough to ride a wild horse. Chris used to be one of those who would do it. He said riding was the easy part. Putting the saddle on the wild horse, that was hard work!
In February of 1899, Chris went from the ranch he was working on to Eureka (the big city and county seat) for a Mardi Gras dance. He was hoping to see a young lady and maybe get a dance or two. He and a number of other folks rode the narrow gauge train down from Palisade to Eureka.
After a disappointing evening, Chris rode the train back to Palisade. The tale goes that most everyone else had partied quite a bit and were all asleep back in the coaches. Chris rode up front in the locomotive with the engineer and fireman.
After that trip, Chris decided that the rest of his life on the back of a horse was not for him. So, after another summer and fall on the ranch, he went to the Southern Pacific’s division point offices in Wadsworth to apply for a job. There must have been something that the road foreman saw that he didn’t like because he turned Chris away, saying he was too young. But when he came back the next year, he was hired as a locomotive fireman, and never rode a horse ever again.
Howard Hickson as his web pages so well say is “Director Emeritus of the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko. He retired in 1993 after heading the national award-winning museum for almost twenty-five years.” He’s got a wonderful series of stories as told by another cowboy, Lawrence Jackson, who worked in the area around Elko, also in eastern Nevada from 1921 into the Seventies. His tales are a great look at that life, hard as it was.
Yet, something in the mystique of the American West idolized the life and labors of the “cowboy”. Making that cattle round up and drive to the railhead is the stuff of legends, right? Who am I to disagree?
It’s been the stuff of pulp novels, western movies — features and serials, television shows, popular music, etc… Icons of American popular culture, and as popular around the world as they are here at home.
So are you one of these folks who wants to ride the open range? Or are you someone who has watched “City Slickers” and got all the horseback riding you’ll ever need vicariously? Jack Palance not withstanding, there certainly are all kinds of opportunities out there to fulfill any fantasy of life on the range.
To start with, let me offer some media of note:
Musically, I’m all for the “Riders In The Sky” who may be best known for their work on “Toy Story 2” with “Woody’s Round-Up”. Having enjoyed both their CD’s and a live performance, they get my vote for western music.
Or if you’re another fan of the Blues Brothers as am I, “Oh, we got both kinds. We got Country, and Western.”
Texas Bix Bender offers words of wisdom from the trail. My favorite book so far is “Don’t Squat With Yer Spurs On” and “Never Ask A Man The Size Of His Spread—A Cowgirl’s Guide To Life.”
Too Slim’s Mercantile< https://www.ridersinthesky.com/securehtm/fr3tsm.htm> has all the goods any armchair cowboy will ever need.
When it comes to movies, I favor a couple that told it pretty much like it was. Romantic it was not. Dull, tedious and just plain boring, day in, day out is more like it. If you had little or no schooling, this was the kind of career you probably would end up in.
That said, “The Cowboys” with John Wayne carries a good look at the reality of that life. The new Kevin Costner film, “Open Range” may be another fine looking piece from the actor/director, but it’s a bit too much fluff for me.
“The Misfits” was a fine tale of some of the cowboys that Arthur Miller met one summer in Nevada while waiting for a divorce. PBS offered a great look behind the scenes with this effort from its “Great Performances” series. In the days when people were just discovering the wild mustangs, they weren’t the cause they would become. They were just horses waiting to rounded up, much as they had been almost seventy years before. But Miller did understand. As he put it, “What intrigued me about Nevada was that the people were so little and the landscape was so enormous.”
PBS offered a fine look as 21st Century folks tried their hand at what life might have been like on the Montana prairies in the 1880’s. Frontier House put a good cross-section of families back in time for six months. Modern conveniences like shampoo and soap don’t exist. The luxury of a bath wasn’t an everyday thing. And meals weren’t just something you popped into the microwave. Keeping the family fed was an all day chore from sunrise to sundown and then some!
Now for the romantic side of the coin, the television series “Bonanza” was the fanciful tale of a ranch in Nevada. From 1959 to 1974, folks tuned it each week to watch the adventures of the Cartwright family. Set between the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe and the mountains that held Virginia City and the Comstock Lode, there wasn’t a lot of realism in the stories. Yet, it’s a show that has lots of fans, even today. Here’s one of the better fan sites you’ll find on the Web. Some episodes were filmed on location at Lake Tahoe on the north shore. Sets used became part of the Ponderosa Ranch theme park (not far from what was once a logging camp). Folks from all over the world have come to enjoy the place that their favorite TV western called home. (What is it with the Germans and their fascination for this place? Got me!)
But if you’re looking to step out and see the trail for yourself, there are plenty of places ready to handle it. Check out this Google search for some suggestions. The top of the list offers duderanches.com with a state by state list of places to tempt you.
Another good search is for trail drives. If you’re looking to do the “City Slicker’s” bit, give the Gray Rocks Ranch a try. This is a 22,000-acre working ranch in southeastern Wyoming that offers all kinds of activities. Events are limited to four to six guests and offer deluxe accommodations. It’s not all work and no play, but it’s a good bet you’ll spend plenty of time on the back of a horse, if that’s what you’re looking for! Although the web pages don’t show it for this year, they did have cattle drives in 1999 and 2000. Drop them a note to see if they’re planning one for this year!
As I said up front, I’m not likely to join one of these efforts soon. Nor will you find me riding the mechanical bull anywhere, or even sitting in the stands watching a rodeo. I can appreciate what might entice folks to do so, but it’s just not for me.
So that brings to a close this chapter of “Things You Always Wanted To Do, But Didn’t Think You Could”! I’ll be on the lookout for more experiences to share with you again. And if you have any suggestions, drop me a note and I’ll look into them. Heck! If they’re interesting enough, I might just go try it myself!
Next week? A look at a ranch of a different sort, and what it is with pot roast. Stay tuned…
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