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Published in 1898 by D. Appleton and Company of New York
WRITTEN IN 1897  by E. Hough

I saw a lot of Cowboy movies during the 1950s, and many of the scenes I remembered seem to be based on the information in this  book.

I found this book in a used bookstore. It is a slice of history about the life of cowboys who worked on cattle drives in the American West between 1860 and 1895.

The 343-page book tells the story of their life and times.

Here is a quote from page 182:

“The monochrome of winter, the blue-grey of cold desolation, oppressed it all.”

Who were the brave souls choosing to work under those conditions to drive cattle to market?

Here is my guess, and it is just a guess.

I saw them as young men breaking free of the rules of civilization and embracing those of cattle drives.

Nobody would be calling daily meetings and telling them what to do. They knew what needed to be done and did it.

The job had one goal: Bring those Longhorns from Texas to Kansas.

Sitting straight as an arrow in the saddle, they were the boss over the cattle; nobody was a boss over them.

They believed in themselves.

Together as one. Rider and horse. They did their job.

Bringing beef to people living in the East while leading productive lives under the blazing Sun and cold rains.

When the Sun finished its job, a blanket of stars appeared. It was time for supper.

While sitting around a campfire, telling stories, and embellishing a few to make them more exciting, they were a team.

Here is another quote from page 182:

“The sky is even in its colours, except that now and then there scuds across it a strange and ominous thing,”

The quote reminded me of the song written by Stan Jones in 1948, “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” 

Stan said that he heard the story from an old cowboy when he was 12.

I am sure that the old cowboy had lived that glorious life and relived it when he told Stan his story.

This book about the cowboys and the lives they lived can be read online at:

babel.hathitrust.org