The Era of the American Cowboy
Before the extension of the railways, writes Louis C. Kleber, long cattle-drives were the way of life west of the Mississippi.
The American cowboy; weather-beaten, self-reliant, independent, living in a hard environment, he was a man who became one of history’s most romanticized figures in his own time, capturing the popular imagination as few others. He could have been one of the great cattle barons like Charles Goodnight, a deadly gunslinger like John Wesley Hardin or one of those nameless cowboys who, often for less than $10 a month and their board, faced a host of dangers as a regular part of his occupation.
The cowboy’s origins very largely lie in Mexico, for it was from there that Francisco Coronado, the Spanish conquistador, explored northward into what is now Texas, taking with him cattle to supply food and the leather needed by an expedition into the wilderness. As with later exploratory parties, some of the cattle strayed, stampeded or were driven off by Indians.
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