The Horse Queen of Idaho....Kittie Wilkins

In 1870, Kittie Wilkins built and empire that encompassed a large area of Southern Idaho, northern Nevada and eastern Oregon. She became an outstanding rancher and expert dealer in horses and often was called "The Horse Queen of Idaho," or "The Queen of Diamonds," due to her diamond brand.

Kittie was born in 1857 in Jacksonville, Oregon. Her parents, John R. and Laura Wilkins, were an ambitious couple who visited many boomtowns of the west before settling in Challis, Idaho, where they began raising cattle and horses. During her early years Kittie lived in several western states. John and Laura, however, never neglected their daughter's schooling. While her father taught her the horse trading business, Kittie's mother made sure she attended the finest schools. She grew into a well educated woman who could ride the range, carry out a shrewd business deal, or sit at the piano to entertain guests.

Kittie always claimed she got her start as a small child when two of her father's friends each gave her a $20 gold piece to invest. When her father became involved in the stock company, he used the money to buy Kittie a filly, which started her in business. She soon acquired her own herd that numbered between 700 and 800 horses. Kittie was an expert horsewoman, it was said she could ride anything with four feet on the ground, or anything with one foot on the ground and three feet in the air.
 
By the time she was 28, the Wilkins Company had moved to the Bruneau Valley of Owyhee County, Idaho. Although the outfit consisted of Kittie's father and her three brothers, she was the undisputed head of the company. She claimed every unbranded mustang on their range, which ran from the Humbolt River in Nevada, to the Snake River in Idaho, and from Goose Creek County in Idaho to the Owyhee River in Oregon. Kittie had the hardest working outfit west of the Mississippi River. Her boys were riding almost constantly as the ranch broke and shipped 154 horses every two weeks. The Wilkins riders became known as the finest in the world.
 
Kittie rode the open range with her cowhands, roping and saddle-breaking. The newspapers described her as a striking, blue-eyed blonde who rode a palomino the color of her hair. Seated upon a saddle that was mounted in silver and gold, Kittie was one with her horse as he flew over the rough terrain, rounding strays into the holding-corrals.

When traveling to the Eastern stockyards, Kittie took two trunks, one for here work-clothes and the other for her fancy outfits, which were worn with flair. Although she raised more than one eyebrow, the talented lady personally watched over her own horses, disdaining the idea that women were limited to playing the piano and attending tea parties. The herd was more important to her than the whispered gossip of others.

Because she was totally feminine, Miss Wilkins never failed to create excitement as she entered the marketplace. While selling her horses, the lady pulled her golden hair up under a hat and dressed in skillfully tailored mannish attire, something that was unheard of in that era. Whatever her attire, however, Kittie knew her business. She found a way to move the abundant wild mustangs of the West to the horse-hungry markets of the East.


One time she brought 3,000 head with her to St. Louis, Missouri and auctioned them off herself turning a tidy profit. It was rumored that the beautiful woman could make a better deal than her male counterparts and in 1891, Kittie Wilkins was the only female in the United States whose sole occupation was horse dealing.

Once the horse trading was over, Kittie changed her male attire and met the press wearing the most stylish fashions. In 1895, during an interview, a reporter told his friends he was hardly prepared to meet the tall young woman "dressed in a svelte, tailor-made costume, her blonde curls surmounted by a dainty Parisian creation, who greeted him with perfect self-possession and invited him to be seated."
He said she was a strikingly handsome woman. In 1904, at the age of 46, Kittie visited San Francisco. During her stay, she was a guest of the city and awarded, "The Palm for Beauty," which meant she was the toast of the town.

Often a cowboy who rode over the large Wilkins spread looking for a job, was surprised to find that "Kit" Wilkins was a she not a he. At first many of the men weren't sure they wanted to work for a female. However, once they realized the beautiful lady could not only handle her horse, but would also ride beside them, they always hired on. All of her "boys" were paid $40 a month and board, and they were strong, rough riders. Kittie ruled with an iron hand. If a cowboy got out of line, he was immediately fired. In a magazine article, one her "hands" wrote: "If a man weren't a good rider when he went to work for Kit Wilkins, he was a good rider when he left of he wasn't riding at all-unless in a hearse."

Many of Kittie's riders hired on as apprentices, and, under her guidance, became excellent cowboys. A few of them went on to fame in the Wild West Shows and others performed in rodeos. High Strickland became a Champion of the World several times; Jess Coates rode before the King and Queen of England in a Command Performance, and Walter Scott became part of Buffalo Bill Cody's show, and then became known as Death Valley Scotty.

Kittie was king to her crew and earned their admiration as a skilled rider. She was not afraid of the unbroken horses and would enter the pens and manage the most unruly. She knew more about pedigrees than most women did about stylish clothes.

With all her wealth and beauty, however, Kittie never married. It had been rumored she loved only one man. He was her top foreman and superintendent and they were reportedly engaged to be married. Unfortunately, he was killed while trying to remove and intruder from the Wilkins spread and Kittie was true to his memory the rest of her life.

Kit raised her horses on "Wilkins Island", a high plateau between what was then called "Kittie's Hot Hole" and the mining area of Jarbridge, Nevada. The Hot Hole was a natural hot springs at the bottom of a gorge, and today is known as "Murphy's Hot Springs." The Island was the company's headquarters where Kittie's "hands" built a corral that held the horses until they were shipped on to the eastern markets.

 

 Kittie's Letter Head

As Kittie rode the range and worked beside her cowboys, they shared a special camaraderie. Often, after a hard weeks work, she and her hands would ride into town and visit the local tavern for a bit of rest and frivolity. On one of these occasions, the Wilkin's boys were so carried away with their fun-making that someone "accidentally" opened the corral gate and the entire herd of captured "dollars" escaped.

Mrs. Alice Hicks, of Mountain Home, Idaho, remembers both Kittie and the tavern, as her father, Elijah Fletcher, once worked for the Wilkins. In a letter, she described a day in which she and her brother rode into town with their father to buy beef. Kit was standing in the door of the tavern and she greeted Elijah in a friendly manner saying, "Hello Lige, come on in and join the boys." When her father left the children sitting in the wagon, Mrs. Hicks recalls being a bit upset because at that young age she considered a tavern a den of "sin."

Although respectable women of that period didn't enter a tavern, it must be remembered that Kittie Wilkins was not an ordinary woman. She was always a lady, but she lived by her own rules.
Kittie had a lively personality and was a polished publicist. Her news releases were consistent and timely. She never deviated from her original tale of how she got her start with the two $20 gold pieces. Kittie's beauty and her success stories made headlines from San Francisco to St. Louis. Reporters admired her and the public enjoyed reading about the charming woman who many called "The Golden Queen".

Her generosity extended beyond the welfare of the cowboys who rode beside her on the ranch. Kittie supported an orphanage in Salt Lake City, Utah, and she donated to a Catholic academy near San Francisco. When the boys were old enough to work, they were hired as hands for the Wilkins Company. Several of the girls were taken into Kittie's home to assist with the housework, and a few she sent on to further their education. Numerous letters of appreciation from those who Kittie helped are on file, along with her property deeds and old records.

As time passed and Kittie grew older, she may have tinted her hair a bit, but she never lost that inner spark that made her so special. When she died of a heart attack in 1935, at the age of 79, no one thought of Kittie as an old woman.

She is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home. There is a modest stone bearing a simple inscription in which her name, birth and death dates are followed by the words, "Horse Queen of Idaho."

Although Miss Wilkins was one of the best known women of her generation, there has been very little written about her. Bits and pieces of Kittie's colorful life have come from old newspaper articles, a few paragraphs here and there, and through the courtesy of the Elmore Historical Society in Mountain Home, Idaho.
 
this is an excerpt from the book "Daughters of the West", by Anne Seagraves.



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Equestrian Acts of the Old West Circus

Circuses were an important part of the old west culture in the 1800s.

Cowboys coming from the dusty cow trails, frontier men after a long work week and miners who were looking to forget there long hard day in the mine came to town looking for excitement and entertainment.

Circuses provided much needed entertainment for all. They had acts like wild animal menageries, clowns, acrobats, trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, brass bands, performing elephants and equestrians who could stand on horseback as they galloped around a center ring.

The circuses date back to Mexican times when shows based on European models came up from the South into California and the southwest around the middle of the 19th century. Circus troupes from the East began to reach settlements in the more accessible regions of Kansas and Nebraska. They traveled in horse drawn wagons over atrocious roads.

By 1880s when railroads had eased the difficulties of transportation, the circus came into its own as the greatest show in the West.

One of those shows was the John Rowe & Co. Pioneer Circus. Here is an excerpt from an article written about the show-

(From the book-“Men of the West-Life on the American Frontier” by Cathy Luchetti)

“ by far the most extensive and elegant organized equestriene establishment that ever appeared in CA…Traveling through the state at an expense of fifteen thousand dollars a month as an added incentive, the seats are carpeted, and attentive and gentlemanly ushers to wait on ladies and family."


The John Rowe & Co. Pioneer Circus was based in San Francisco, Ca and traveled extensively throughout California. As mentioned before, one of the circus acts was the equestrians who could do acrobatics on horseback.

Below is a glimpse into a typical equestrian performance at the Pioneer Circus.

The main acts of the Pioneer Circus were the equestrian events. At show time the audience was treated to all the spectacle and finery the troupe could provide. One of these spectacles was Miss Mary Ann Whittaker, the first female equestrian artist in America. She was ranked among the best in ballet and pantomime. She would ride out into the sawdust-covered ring standing on her milk white horse in pink tights and ruffles with stars and spangles. Then to the amazement of the crowd as she neared a ribbon held in her path 12 feet high by two colorful clowns, she would leap up off the horse and over the ribbon and then land gracefully onto the horses back all while it was speeding around the circus ring. The applause was thunderous and it continued through the evening. Other riders rode in pyramids on two horses with three riders stacked neatly on top of one another while still others did forward and backward flips through rings of fire.

For these amazing acts to work the horses and riders went through hours of rigorous training some of which is not what you would expect. While the horses went through their paces the grooms would carelessly kick cans about the ring, fire guns, and even tie five-gallon cans to the horse's tail! This was all done in training to teach the horse not to sway from its paces for anyone but its trainer. Timing was everything in the ring. An acrobatic rider doing a back somersault would not like it much if he came down from his leap only to find the horse spooked by a child with a firecracker and not be in his appointed spot.

The Circuses not only used their horses for entertainment, but for hauling all the equipment, animals, and performers in wagons. The travel was hard and taxing on all. Between the roads, or lack of, and the weather it made getting from one town to the next very eventful.

Usually the circus would only be able to cover two or three miles in an hour. Many of the stops were 10 to 15 miles apart and a rider would go ahead and mark the forks in the road with a rail so the caravan would go the right way.

Perhaps the worst occurrence would be after getting little or no sleep, fighting their way through a drenching rainstorm, pulling out and repairing wagons, and then hearing the word "lost." This of course meant retracing steps and going through all the problems again.

Rowe's Pioneer Circus played the mountain camps and towns until August when due to expenses they were forced to return to San Francisco. Before leaving they had played Yankee Jim, Iowa Hill, Illinois Town, Dutch Flats, Red Dog, Grass Valley, Rough and Ready, Nevada, Orleans Flat, Oroville, Horsetown, Marysville, Monk Hill, Railroad Flat, West Point, Chinese cap and Columbia.

I can just imagine the excitement of the circus coming to these prairie towns and watching the thrilling acts of the equestrian acrobatics.








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The Angel of Tombstone.....Ellen Cashman

 

Frontier Angel, Miner's Angel and the Angel of Tombstone were all names known to Ellen (Nellie) Cashman. Ellen was famous throughout the Old West as a nurse, entrepreneur, gold miner and Angel. Ellen was once described as "Pretty as a Victorian cameo and, when necessary, tougher than two-penny nails."

Ellen Cashman was born in Queenstown, County Cork Ireland in 1845. Her father died when she was young, so Ellen, her sister, Frances (Franny) and her mother immigrated to the United States. Ellen and her family settled in Boston, where Ellen began work as a bellhop in a prominent Boston hotel. It is said she met General Ulysses S. Grant, here and he urged Ellen to head west. Ellen and her family did, they headed out west to San Francisco, Ca in 1865.
 
Ellen was busy working as a cook at various miner camps including Virginia City and Pioche Nevada. Ellen would take the money she earned from the miner camps and open a Miner's Boarding House at Panaca Flat, Nevada in 1872.

In 1874 Ellen came down with gold fever. She, along with 200 Nevada gold miners, traveled to the Cassiar Mountains in British Columbia, Canada to strike it rich. While in Cassiar she set up another boarding house for miners. This time asking for donations to the Sister of St. Anne in return for services at the boarding house. While in Cassiar, Ellen heard of 26 miners who were injured and suffered from scurvy. She quickly put together a six man search party and collected food and medicine to bring to the stranded miners. The conditions in the mountains were bad and Ellen was advised by the Canadian Army not to proceed on her search. She went anyways and eventually after 77 days of tough weather conditions, Ellen located the injured miners who numbered 75 men not 26. She administered a vitamin C diet to nurse the group back to health. Ellen would later be known as the "Angel of Cassiar".

Ellen eventually found her way to Arizona. First stopping in Tucson and then later in 1880 to Tombstone Arizona, just after the arrival of the Earp brothers. Ellen opened a restaurant and hotel called Russ House which served 50 cent meals and advertised "there are no cockroaches in my kitchen and the flour is clean."  Legend has it that a man once complained about Ellen's cooking and a fellow patron Doc Holliday drew his pistol asking the man to repeat what he said. Embarrassed the man replied, "Best I ever ate."  
Ellen spent her years in Tombstone as a business owner, influential citizen, and an Angel of Tombstone. Ellen was a life long Catholic and convinced the owners of the Crystal Palace Saloon (one of whom was Wyatt Earp) to allow Sunday church services until she could raise enough funds for the construction of the Sacred Heart Church. She also raised money for the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and the miner's hospital there in Tombstone.

Ellen came back from an unsuccessful gold expedition in Baja, California and learned her sister had died of tuberculosis and left Ellen to raise her  5 children. Ellen sold the Russ House and spent the next years with the children wandering the mining camps of Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona. Ellen would eventually joined the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada's Yukon Territory. Ellen arrived in Dawson where she opened a restaurant, a mercantile outlet and a refuge for miners. Ellen lived in Dawson for 7 years and was know to all as one of the greatest figures of the Klondike gold rush.

In January 1925 the Angel of Tombstone, Ellen (Nellie) Cashman developed pneumonia and died. She was buried at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia. Entrepreneur, humanitarian, gold miner, Angel whatever you choose to call her Ellen embodied the spirit of the Old West through her courage and entrepreneurial spirit.





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The Chuck Wagon - Traveling Dinner Table of the Old West

The Chuck Wagon of the old west was a home, the dinner table, "the water cooler" and a traveling store. 
The Chuck Wagon on a cattle drive or roundup served all these requirements.

On the cattle drives the cook or "cookie" as he was called was second in rank to the trail boss. The cookie and the chuck wagon had to outpace the drovers and have the cowboys meals ready on time.


The chuck wagon was usually a converted army wagon with iron axles tough enough to withstand miles of rough western trails. There was a canvas cover that stretched over bentwood bows to keep out the rain and the midday sun.

There was also a tail gate. It served as a table and had drawers and shelves that carried food like corn meal, flour, potatoes etc. Under the tail gate was the "boot" where cooking pots and utensils were stored.



(this picture is from the book "Cowboys" by Martin Chandler)

Stuffed into corners of the tail gate were assorted items such as plugs of tobacco, bandages, needles and thread, a razor and strop and a bottle of whiskey used for medicinal purposes.

The chuck wagon also had a barrel on one side that contained 2 day supply of water and on the other side of the wagon, to counter balance, was a toolbox. It held branding irons, horseshoes and nails. And of course you could find the cooks staple- a dutch oven

 

The wagon bed itself carried bedrolls, war bags, corral ropes, guns, ammunition, lanterns, kerosene, and slickers. If a cowboy or lame calf was injured they would ride in the back of the wagon.

 The Studebaker Company was one of the major companies manufacturing the chuck wagons. They sold for $75-$200. A chuck wagon weighed 1600 lb empty. It could haul 3 tons. The chuck wagon was a virtual store on wheels-it carried everything from eggs to long guns and ammunition.
 
Here is a list of some of the items you could find in the chuck wagon-
bedding
salt pork
beef
bread
500lbs of dried beans
200lbs of green coffee beans
20 sacks of flour
10 sack of sugar (considered a luxury on the trails)
potatoes
onions
500lbs of bacon
2 sacks of corn meal
500 apples
6 boxes of dried prunes
15 boxes of canned corn
10 boxes of tomatoes
30lbs of raisins
100lbs of rice






 

(the picture is from the book "Cowboys" by Martin Chandler)



there was also spices such as cinnamon, salt, all spice, pepper, ginger, and of course syrup.

an extra wheel (to prevent iron rims from coming off the wooden wheels in hot and dry climates, it was best to find a shallow stream and soak the wheels until they swelled)

The Chuck Wagon of the old west could have been considered the "water cooler" of its day. Cowboys met there after a roundup or other event. They laid down by the chuck wagon at night to sleep and sat around it for every meal.

 At the center of this chuck wagon was the "cookie". He cooked the food, helped the injured and would always have a story of joke to tell.

The cook prepared the food over brush or buffalo chips. A typical meal plan of the cowboy while on a cattle drive was-

A breakfast consisted of eggs and salt pork. The cowboys preferred sourdough biscuits to those made with buttermilk or baking powder. This is where the dutch oven was so useful-to make the biscuits.

A cowboy's lunch consisted of some dried beef, dried fruit, some sourdough biscuits and perhaps a cup of coffee, if he had a saddle bag.



While on the trail canned tomatoes helped to quench a cowboys thirst. The acid in the tomato juice also helped to counter act the alkali dust inhaled by the cowboys on the trail.

 Dinner was the same as lunch with more meat and of course plenty of coffee!!!

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Female Jesse James....Belle Starr

 Belle Starr

   

The “female Jesse James”…the “bandit queen”…..all names associated with one person, Belle Starr. Belle began her life on February 5, 1848 as Myra Maybelle Shirley in Carthage Missouri. Her father John Shirley was a successful farmer and owner/operator of the Carthage Hotel. Belle was an educated woman who attended the Carthage Female Academy.

Belle’s family moved to Texas after Belle’s brother was killed during the Civil War riding as a Southern guerrilla. Her family traveled to Texas in two Conestoga wagons. Belle, only 16 at the time drove one of those wagons.

After the war, in 1866 Belle married a family acquaintance from Missouri named Jim Reed.  A year after their marriage they moved to Bates County, Missouri. In1868, Belle gave birth to a daughter she named Rosie Lee, but Belle always called her Pearl.

Jim Reed was not as successful with farming as Belle’s father. Jim’s interests were horse racing and gambling. So, he joined a gang of rustlers.

Needless to say, Jim at this point was up to no good, rustling, whiskey running, and a killing or two. Warrants went out for Jim, so he and Belle and Pearl fled to California. While there in 1871, Belle gave birth to her son James Edwin. 

Belle Starr on her horse

They did not stay long in California, Jim was charged with passing counterfeit currency and they left California and went back to Texas, with Belle and the two babies in toe.

Belle and her family landed at a farm set up by her father in Bosque County. But, geography could not change Jim’s bad “habits”. From 1873 until Jim’s death in 1874 Jim cheated on his wife, robbed, held up a stagecoach and was finally killed near Paris, Texas.

In 1876, Belle found herself in Indian Territory. While there she married Sam Starr. He was a handsome man who was 4 years younger. Sam built a log cabin on a timbered knoll in Cherokee Nation called “Younger’s Bend”. Belle called it Younger’s Bend, because outlaw Cole Younger frequently hide there.

 Cole Younger, mug shot

Along with Cole Younger, outlaw Jesse James would hide out at Younger’s Bend. Belle would complain, “My home became known as an outlaw ranch”. Many of the society women spoke poorly of her and would spread horrible rumors because if this “association” with outlaws.

  

So Belle would lead a solitary life. She would wander off with a pillow and books for a day of reading, or would happily sit at her piano for hours.

 Hanging Judge...Isaac Parker

In 1882 or 1883 Belle and Sam Starr were arrested for the theft of two horses. She faced the court of the famous “Hanging Judge”, Isaac Parker. During her trail she was branded the “queen” of a band of horse thieves because of her previous marriage to a criminal and Jesse James presence at her home. Her and Sam were found guilty. Judge Parker sentenced Belle and Sam to one year in the House of Corrections in Detroit. After nine months Belle and Sam were released. They returned to Younger’s Bend and Belle became even more withdrawn from society.

 Belle Starr with Blue Duck

 

From 1885 to 1886 Belle’s second husband followed the same criminal path as her first husband. On December 17, 1886 Sam Starr was killed while at a Christmas dance. So, once again Belle was a widow. 

   

Belle was in danger of loosing her home in the Cherokee Nation after Sam died. So, Belle married her third husband a Native American man named Jim July to fix the problem. He was 15 years younger than Belle.

On February 2, 1888 Belle was riding on an errand and was blasted out of her saddle in an ambush and killed. Her killer was never determined.

Belle Starr ‘s life was filled with crime, some her own doing and some because of whom she married. She once wrote, “It seems as if I have more trouble than any other person.” She may have been known as the “bandit queen” and the “female Jesse James”, but it seems to me she was quite a lonely and secluded woman.

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Lizzie Johnson...Texas Cattle Queen

 

Lizzie Johnson Williams was a pioneer women of the old west..a "pioneer" in every sense of the word. She was smart; hardworking, a businesswoman and she loved the finer things!! And she was the first and only woman in Texas history to accompany her own herd of Texas longhorns up the Chisolm Trail.

Elizabeth E. Johnson was born in Missouri in 1843. Lizzie moved to Hays County, Texas where her father started the Johnson Institute in 1852. At sixteen she started to teacher at her fathers school. She moved to teach at other schools in Texas all the while saving her money. She was smart with her money and invested it in stocks. She purchased $2,500 worth of stock in the Evans, Snider, Bewell Cattle Co. of Chicago. She earned 100 percent dividends for three years straight and then sold her stock for $20,000.!!

On June 1, 1871, Lizzie invested her money in cattle and registered her own brand (CY) in the Travis County brand book along with her mark. She was an official cattle woman.

In the summer of 1879, at the age of thirty-six, she married Hezkiah G Williams. Hezkiah was a preacher and widower who had several children. After her marriage, Lizzie continued to teach and invest in cattle. Lizzie was a smart businesswoman, even after her marriage she continued to maintain control over her wealth and cattle business. A progressive thinker, she had her husband sign a paper agreeing that all of her property remained hers.

Hezkiah did not have the same "head" for business that his wife possessed. In 1881, on his own, he entered into the cattle business. Along with poor business skills, Hezkiah also liked to drink. Lizzie had to constantly help her husband out of financial trouble.

Lizzie and Hezkiah traveled up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas at least twice. They rode behind the herd in a buggy drawn by a team of horses. For several years she and her husband, after coming up the Chisholm Trail, spent the fall and winter months in St. Louis, where Lizzie made extra money by keeping books for other cattlemen. While in St. Louis, she also liked to "treat" herself to some finer things, like current dress fashions, fine clothes and jewels.

 Chisholm Trail

 

During the Civil War, Lizzie was able to grow her cattle herd by overseeing a process called "brushpopping". Since so many men were away at war and there were few fences to keep the cattle contained, the numbers of "unbranded" cattle in the brush of South Texas began to grow. At that time "unbranded" cattle were fair game- you found them - you kept them. Lizzie had her cowboys comb the thickets for cattle -"brushpopping" round them up and transport them to her growing ranch.

Hezkiah passed away in 1914 in El Paso. It is rumored that Lizzie purchased a $600 top-of-the-line coffin for her husband. When she signed the bill of payment, she wrote across it "I loved this old buzzard this much."

Lizzie eventually became somewhat of a recluse. She lived meagerly, wearing frugal dresses and just living on a diet of soup and crackers. On October 9, 1924 Lizzie Johnson Williams passed away at the age of 81. Her estate totaled $250,000. Family members found thousands of dollars in diamonds locked away in her basement and she had large holdings in Austin real estate.

Lizzie was a true "pioneer" of her time and a great inspiration to women of the old west..and today!

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National Day of the Cowboy...Cowboy Code

This Saturday, July 28th is National Day of the Cowboy and Cowgirls.  In the spirit of this National Day, I thought it would be appropriate to post the cowboy's "golden rule".  The Cowboy Code of the West was an unwritten code that all cowboys followed and knew. 

They lived their lives by this code and expected all other cowboys to do the same or deal with the consequences. 

Below is the expanded version of the Cowboy Code of the West. I have also included a few interesting writings from the 1800's depicting these exact qualities of the Cowboy.

To the Cowboys of today and yesterday thank you for keeping the spirit of the code alive by living it everyday.

Cowboy Code of the West

(expanded addition)

First chronicled by the famous western writer, Zane Grey, in his 1934 novel The Code of the West, no "written" code ever actually existed. However, the hardy pioneers who lived in the west were bound by these unwritten rules that centered on hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land.

If it's not yours, don't take it.

If it's not true, don't say it.

If it's not right, don't do it.

Cowboy's word is his sacred bond

Bargains sealed with handshake are more binding than legal documents

be loyal

Demand square dealings

Be proud of your occupation

Lay down your life, if necessary, for the privilege of defending your outfit

Grant quick assistance to friends and strangers in need

Never tolerate cowards

Be cheerful

Endure hardships without complaining

Don't make excuses

Try to be better than the other fella

Never quit

Share anything you own with a fellow worker

Be generous with your life and money

Treat women like ladies

Never shoot an un-armed or un-armed man

Stealing and rustling are evil wrong doing

William G "Billy" Johnson, who worked the range during the 1880's, recalled that "cowpunchers (cowboys) were square shooters upright, and honest men. I never heard of a cowboy insulting a woman. If they were not up to par they were soon run out of the country."


From the Texas Livestock Journal 10/21/1882- wrote of the cowboy's courage, chivalry and loyalty.

"We deem it hardly necessary to say in the next place that the cowboy is a fearless animal. A man waiting in courage would be as much out of place in a cow camp as a fish would be on dry land. Indeed the life he is daily compelled to lead calls for the existence of the highest degree of cool calculating courage. As a natural consequence of this courage, he is not quarrelsome or a bully. Another and most notable of his characteristics is his entire devotion to the interests of his employer. We are certain no more faithful employee ever breathed than he, and when we assert that he is par excellence, a model in this respect, we know that we will be sustained by every man who has had experience in this matter."

(both excerpts from the book "Cowboys of the America's" by Richard W Slarta)

A great example of the Cowboy Code......Two cowpunchers out looking for work rode up to a Texas ranch in time for dinner, expecting the customary offer of a free meal. The boss fed them, but afterward demanded 50 cents in payment. Outraged at this violation of Western hospitality, the men roped a three-year-old steer belonging to their host and used a saddle ring to brand on its flanks the message: "Meals—50 cts." The steer was left to roam the range and proclaim the owner's ignominy.

As another necessary consequence to possessing true manly courage, the cowboy is as chivalrous as the famed knights of old. Rough he may be, and it may be that he is not a master in ball room etiquette, but no set of men have loftier reverence for women and no set of men would risk more in the defense of their person or their honor.

At Buckaroo Leather American Made is not just a sales slogan, standing tall behind our Buckaroo logo is honesty, hard work, dedication, sacrifice and integrity. In our journey of the last 30 years we have met many amazing artists, business horseman and women, craftsmen and customers who still live as we do by the American Cowboy Code of the West.










Our family has been dedicated for 30 years
 in serving the Western Horseman the safest most durable
Quality American made leather horse tack....... Buckaroo John Brand Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand 
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Charley Parkhurst a StageCoach Driver....With a Secret

 

 Writer and illustrator J. Ross Browne
holds tight as Charley Parkhurst drives the stage.

  

Charley Parkhurst lived an interesting life. He was a stagecoach driver, worked in a livery and was born Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst…yep Charley was a female!

Charlotte was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire about 1812. She was abandoned by her parents and was placed in an orphanage in Massachusetts. When Charlotte was a teenager she ran away from the orphanage and began working in a livery stable owned by Ebenezer Balch in Worcester.

Many people believe that Charlotte began her new identity as a male after her escape from the orphanage. It is not know exactly when the transformation occurred or what her movements were for about 20 years.

“Charley” debut as a stagecoach whip with help from Ebenezer Balch. She worked in Providence, Rhode Island for a while and then landed in Georgia. When She came back to Providence in 1849 she learned of the gold rush on the American River in northern California.

A stagecoach driver and friend of Charlotte’s, James Birch wanted to start up a stagecoach line from the goldfields to Sacramento. He promised her a job and they started on their way to California. The journey took six months. In 1851 she made her way to the goldfields and was employed by birch to drive coaches in the Mother Lode country.

In 1854 Birch organized the California Stage Company. Charlotte “Charley” was a chief driver for Birch. She was familiar with the entire Sierra Nevada foothill country. From Sacramento and Stockton to as far south as Monterrey. She ran the coach line from San Francisco to Oakland.

 One-Eyed Charley Parkhurst

 

As you can imagine many “legends” and stories came about from her journeys as a stagecoach whip in California.

One story involved a highwayman known as Sugarfoot. Sugarfoot had very large feet and used burlap sacks as shoes. Sugarfoot stopped Charlotte’s coach, stuck a shotgun in her face, and ordered her to throw down the strongbox. Charlotte did, but warned Sugarfoot, “Next time, I’ll be ready for you.”

Charlotte was, she started to wear six-shooters. A year later Sugarfoot and his gang stopped the coach again. But this time she began blazing away at them as they drew up on her coach. She flew down the trail and later when the posse returned to the site they found Sugarfoot dead and two of his gang wounded.

Charlotte was proud to say she never had a passenger suffer an injury while on her coach. She took her job very seriously and was at all times professional. She loved her horses, calling them beauties, and giving them lots of love and care. Charlotte was a good in a fight and put anyone in their place that mistreated horses or other animals in her presence.

In the 1860’s Charlotte retired from driving stagecoaches. She suffered an eye injury while shoeing a horse and had to wear an eye patch. She was then called “One-Eyed Charley”

                                           1889 Great Hot Springs in the Dakota Territory

In her retirement, she led a quiet life of raising cattle and growing vegetables. She died on her ranch from cancer. It was at this time when the physician who pronounced her at the ranch did the autopsy and found out Charlotte’s secret.

Well, the story of Charlotte’s secret life as a man spread like wildfire throughout the west. Her decades long masquerade as a man shocked and baffled many.

Even though she was only five feet seven inches tall, clean-shaven and spoke little, no one questioned her gender. She spoke with a “whiskey tenor” and often wore pleated shirts over over sized trousers and was never seen without her leather gauntlet-like gloves in public.  While on the road she slept in the stable with her horses and never bathed in public bathhouses. She also swore like a long-shore man, smoked cigars, and chewed tobacco.

She gave up a lot to live as a man. Her life was a lonely one she had no close friends or relationships for obvious reasons. So why live as a man? The reason is not know, but there is speculation that she became Charley to earn a decent wage and work at an occupation that offered excitement and challenge.

Between Christmas 1879 and New Year’s Day 1880 Charlotte was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery near Watsonville, California.  Rather an appropriate site for Charlotte, “Charley”…being such an “odd fellow”…

information from the book “Legends of the Wild West” by James A Crutchfield, Bill O’Neal and Dale L Walker

                                                        

 

Our family has been dedicated for 30 years
in serving the Western Horseman the safest most durable 
Quality American made leather horse tack....... Buckaroo John Brand Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand 
Visit Our Unique Store Today
 Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site

The Cowboy Code of the West......Laws to Live By

"few cowboys ever owned much. The primary reward of being a cowboy was the pleasure of living a cowboy's life."

I Love this quote...a cowboy's life is.....hard working...has simple pleasures.....working the land with your own hands.........has simple rules...

Cowboy Code of the West

-If it's not yours, don't take it.
-If it's not true, don't say it.
-If it's not right, don't do it.
-Cowboy's word is his sacred bond
-Bargains sealed with handshake are more binding than legal documents
-be loyal
-Demand square dealings
-Be proud of your occupation
-Lay down your life, if necessary, for the privilege of defending your outfit
-Grant quick assistance to friends and strangers in need
-Never tolerate cowards
-Be cheerful
-Endure hardships without complaining
-Don't make excuses
-Try to be better than the other fella
-Never quit
-Share anything you own with a fellow worker
-Be generous with your life and money
-Treat women like ladies
-Never shoot an un-armed or un-warned man
-Stealing and rustling are evil wrong doing

The cowboy code of the west meant that in the Old West a contract was sealed by a handshake. A cowboys word meant something. Good character was a valued commodity. A cowboy's reputation followed him from town to town.

The code of the west helped the cowboys to know that when a wrong was done to someone there were consequences. That people who did not follow the code were probably not of good character.

Hence why there were not that many laws in the old west...... (like today!!)

Cowboys and ranchers knew from the code what right and wrong were. It was wrong to steal a horse. Breaking into a man’s cabin and assaulting his daughter was wrong period, no excuses!

Here is a story from the old west....depicting how important and serious the code of the west was


"Two cowpunchers out looking for work rode up to a Texas ranch in time for dinner, expecting the customary offer of a free meal. The boss fed them, but afterward demanded 50 cents in payment. Outraged at this violation of Western hospitality, the men roped a three-year-old steer belonging to their host and used a saddle ring to brand on its flanks the message: "Meals—50 cts." The steer was left to roam the range and proclaim the owner's ignominy."

Today, our world is missing these basic of common sense "laws". I know today's world is much different from the world of the old west- but the values and common sense of the code of the west need to be apart of all our lives today.

There are many cowboy and cowgirl's who live by this code today........


Myself and my company, Buckaroo Leather, started over 30 years ago stand by and live the Code of the West. I strive to keep the spirit of the old west and the code alive today....
I encourage all you cowboys and cowgirls to do the same..........Ride American!!!!!!


All the photos featured in this post are of the Buckaroo John family in 1915.


Our family has been dedicated for 30 years in serving
the Western Horseman the safest most durable
Quality American made leather horse tack.......Buckaroo John Brand
Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand
Visit Our Unique Store Today
Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site

Happy Thanksgiving from Buckaroo Leather.....

Buckaroo Leather wishes all you Cowboys and Cowgirls a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What will be on your Thanksgiving table??? Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, cranberries......

The first Thanksgiving had quite a different a menu. The table was filled with native fruits, like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries. There were also local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, Jerusalem artichokes and squash.

The main dishes included native birds and game as well as five deer. There were also fish and shellfish on the table.

Although our food for Thanksgiving dinner varies from the first dinner, the feelings of thankfulness, family, and freedom are still with us today.





Here is a story of one Thanksgiving from the 1800's of a settlers reasons for being thankful:

A Close Call

In 1938, Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe remembers the dangers that settlers faced on the prairie in the 1800s, and the many reasons settlers had for giving thanks:

One of the best Thanksgiving dinners we ever knew of was when a family of settlers had their nice wild turkey dinner taken by the Indians, who came in silently and just shoved the folks back and eat it up. They did not harm the white people though and after they were gone the women made a big corn bread and with what few things the Indians left, they had a feast, the best as the daughter tells, that she ever eat. This was because they were so happy and thankful that the Indians spared them. This is one of many stories Mrs. Thorpe remembers from her pioneer childhood.

Our family has been dedicated for 30 years in serving the
Western Horseman the safest most durable
Quality American made leather horse tack.......Buckaroo John Brand
Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand
Visit Our Unique Store Today
Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site

The Chuck Wagon-The Cowboys Home on the Trail

The Chuck Wagon of the old west was a home, the dinner table, "the water cooler" and a traveling store.

The Chuck Wagon on a cattle drive or roundup served all these requirements.

On the cattle drives the cook or "cookie" as he was called was second in rank to the trail boss. The cookie and the chuck wagon had to outpace the drovers and have the cowboys meals ready on time.

The chuck wagon was usually a converted army wagon with iron axles tough enough to withstand miles of rough western trails. There was a canvas cover that stretched over bentwood bows to keep out the rain and the midday sun.

There was also a tail gate. It served as a table and had drawers and shelves that carried food like corn meal, flour, potatoes etc. Under the tail gate was the "boot" where cooking pots and utensils were stored.

(the picture is from the book "Cowboys" by Martin Chandler)


Stuffed into corners of the tail gate were assorted items such as plugs of tobacco, bandages, needles and thread, a razor and strop and a bottle of whiskey used for medicinal purposes.

The chuck wagon also had a barrel on one side that contained 2 day supply of water and on the other side of the wagon, to counter balance, was a toolbox. It held branding irons, horseshoes and nails. And of course you could find the cooks staple- a dutch oven

The wagon bed itself carried bedrolls, war bags, corral ropes, guns, ammunition, lanterns, kerosene, and slickers. If a cowboy or lame calf was injured they would ride in the back of the wagon.

The Studebaker Company was one of the major companies manufacturing the chuck wagons. They sold for $75-$200.
A chuck wagon weighed 1600 lb empty. It could haul 3 tons.

The chuck wagon was a virtual store on wheels-it carried everything from eggs to long guns and ammunition.

Here is a list of some of the items you could find in the chuck wagon-

bedding
salt pork
beef
bread
500lbs of dried beans
200lbs of green coffee beans
20 sacks of flour
10 sack of sugar (considered a luxury on the trails)
potatoes
onions
500lbs of bacon
2 sacks of corn meal
500 apples
6 boxes of dried prunes
15 boxes of canned corn

10 boxes of tomatoes
30lbs of raisins
100lbs of rice

(the picture is from the book "Cowboys" by Martin Chandler)

there was also spices such as cinnamon, salt, all spice, pepper, ginger, and of course syrup.

an extra wheel (to prevent iron rims from coming off the wooden wheels in hot and dry climates, it was best to find a shallow stream & soak the wheels until they swelled)


The Chuck Wagon of the old west could have been considered the "water cooler" of its day. Cowboys met there after a roundup or other event. They laid down by the chuck wagon at night to sleep and sat around it for every meal.

At the center of this chuck wagon was the "cookie". He cooked the food, helped the injured and would always have a story of joke to tell.


The cook prepared the food over brush or buffalo chips. A typical meal plan of the cowboy while on a cattle drive was-

A breakfast consisted of eggs and salt pork. The cowboys preferred sourdough biscuits to those made with buttermilk or baking powder. This is where the dutch oven was so useful-to make the biscuits.
A cowboy's lunch consisted of some dried beef, dried fruit, some sourdough biscuits and perhaps a cup of coffee, if he had a saddle bag.

While on the trail canned tomatoes helped to quench a cowboys thirst. The acid in the tomatoe juice also helped to counter act the alkali dust inhaled by the cowboys on the trail.

Dinner was the same as lunch with more meat and of course plenty of coffee!!!

Our family has been dedicated for 30 years in serving the

Western Horseman the safest most durable
Quality American made leather horse tack.......Buckaroo John Brand
Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand
Visit Our Unique Store Today
Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site