A COWBOY is a person who helps take care of a
large herd of cattle for a ranch owner. In the United States, cowboys
won fame in the days of the Western frontier. Their reputation for
bravely facing danger and hardship made them heroes to many Americans.
Exciting tales of cowboy life, sad cowboy songs, and colorful cowboy
language have all become part of American Folklore. Many of the most
popular novels, motion pictures, and television shows have been about
cowboys.
The height of the cowboy period lasted only about 20 years, from the
mid-1860's to the mid-1880's. During that time, cowboys riding on
horseback tended great herds of cattle on vast stretches of unfenced
land called the open range. They also took cattle on long trail drives.
Trail drives were the cheapest way to move cattle from Western ranches
to railway stations for shipment to Eastern markets.
A cowboy's days were filled with hard
work and long hours at low wages.
Real cowboys in the nineteenth century weren't called
cowboys at all, but "herders" or "vaqueros." American cowboys copied
much of the equipment used by Mexican cowboys, who are called
vaqueros. The big sombrero worn by vaqueros became an American
cowboy hat. La reata, the rope in Spanish, became the lariat used
by cowboys to rope cattle. Even the word vaquero became
buckaroo, another English word for cowboy. The name
"cowboy" was created by authors and showmen.
Cowboy's did ride horses, and many carried guns in holsters to
protect the herds of cattle they were supposed to guide to water,
grazing areas, and market. Cowboys were often wild, rough men, and they
had a poor reputation; some of them were actual outlaws.
There have probably never been more than 100,000 cowboys in the
United States. But cowboys achieved an importance far beyond their
numbers. Hard-working cowboys helped make the West a productive part of
the United States. In the process, they came to stand for the frontier
spirit of courage, independence, and self-reliance.
This image of the "gallant cowboy," familiar today from American
books, film, and television, has come to symbolize the ideal
American, self-made man who overcomes his poverty and lack of education
with courage, individualism, and determination. WBE Vol. 4
