The Cowboys Exhibit

Living on the Trail for six to eight months a year, the romantic life of a cowboy portrayed in literature and film bore scant resemblance to the real thing. Life on the Trail was hard, dirty, exhausting work. Up before dawn to prepare the herd for the days march; getting the cattle on the move; chasing a skittish steer and returning it to the herd; keeping as many as 3,000 cattle in formation along the trail; rounding up the herd scattered over a ten-mile area after a stampede; enduring the heat, dust, rain, mud, wind, and hazards of prairie-dog holes and lightning storms; crossing rivers with unwilling cattle; rolling up in a blanket, bone-tired, at the end of the day, only to be awakened after a few hours sleep to take a turn riding around the herd at night. This was a typical day for the cowboy on the Trail, repeated day-after-day.

Meals quickly grew monotonous; cowboys subsisted on beans, bacon, biscuits, and coffee. Beef was not a staple. You would not eat the profit.  Few drovers made the trip more than once.

The cowboys themselves were a mixed lot: ranch hands, former Civil War soldiers, former slaves, hispanics, runaway teenagers, Indians, young boys looking for adventure, and men looking for a way to emigrate north. One out of five were black, hispanic, or Indian.  Most were in their late teens.