|
The
most famous black cowboy of all, Nat Love
Nate Love, also
know as Deadwood Dick, was born a slave in Tennessee. He had a love of the
free and wild life on the range. Soon he was known as a good all around
cowboy.
Nate found a Texas
outfit that had delivered its herd and was preparing to go back down to
Texas. There were several good black cowboys in the outfit. After sharing
breakfast with the crew, Nate asked the trail boss for a job. The boss
agreed if Nate could break a horse named Good Eye, the wildest horse in
the outfit. Bronco Jim, another black cowboy gave Nate some pointers and
Nate rode that horse. He said later that it was the toughest ride he had
ever had.
The work was very hard. Nate rode through hailstorms so violent that only
strong men could withstand them. The first time he met hostile Indians, he
admitted he was too scared to run. After going through a number of such
trials he adjusted to the ways of the cattle country and could handle any
problem,
Nate
had a forty-five and he took every chance he could to practice with it and
he got very good with it. There came a time when he could shoot better
than any of his friends.
Nate left the Texas Panhandle, and rode into Arizona where he got a job
working for an outfit on the Gila River. He had ridden many of the trails
of the southwest and he believed that he was a capable cowboy. While in
Arizona working with Mexican vaqueros, he learned to speak Spanish like a
native and he became very good at reading brands.
In the spring of 1876, Nate Love's outfit received orders to deliver three
thousand steers to Deadwood City in the Dakota Territory. They arrived
July 3rd. The town was getting ready for the 4th of July. The mining men
and gamblers had gotten together and organized a contest with $200 prize
money. Nate said that six of the dozen men in the contest were Black. Each
black cowboy was to rope, throw, tie bridles, and saddle a mustang in the
shortest possible time. The wildest horses were chosen for this event.
Nate roped, threw, tied bridles, saddled, and mounted his mustang in
exactly nine minutes. The next competitor took twelve minutes and thirty
seconds. In the rifle and Colt events, shooting at 100 and 250 yards with
14 shots, Nate placed all of his shots in the bull’s eye and 10 of the
12 pistol shots in the bull’s eye.
Nate Love was the obvious winner and along with the prize money, the town
gave Nate the title of "Deadwood Dick.”
CLICK
HERE
|
