Life in the Old West

The cowboy’s bedroll, unlike bedrolls or sleeping bags used by modern-day campers, was much, much more than a sleeping bag. The bedroll served as his “mini-home” on the range.

In its most elaborate form, a bedroll contained a whole host of personal possessions wrapped in canvas (when canvas could be found) or sometimes just in make-shift heavy grain sack cloth. Tied up or strapped within such a bedroll might be a “sugan” (also spelled “sougan” or “suggan” and several other very creative ways) or two and the cowboy’s “war bag” or “possibles sack.” In fact, a well-planned and well-stocked bedroll carefully wrapped and tied might be slung across a horse’s back behind the saddle, or if it was too large and burdensome and the cowboy was a working cowboy, his bedroll might be slung off the side of a chuck wagon or tucked down in the bed of the chuck wagon along with all the crew’s cooking utensils.

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Winter’s snows and ice storms around here always bring back memories of my Grandma’s kerosene lamp, or I should say kerosene lamps, because she had several in her small apartment that were left over from her and grandpa’s decades on their old farm.

If you’ve been getting smacked around by the many snowstorms, ice storms, and near-blizzards that have been sweeping across the Southern Plains into the Northeast this year, you probably appreciate the “wise old ways” of the kerosene lamp days. Namely, a good old-fashioned kerosene lamp stored away for winter can keep glorious light and even wonderful heat around in your home when the weather snuffs out “newfangled” power sources like electricity and sometimes even steady flows of natural gas.

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I just finished watching an episode of “The American Experience” which puts Buffalo Bill Cody in good perspective, highlighting the complexity of the man as genuine American “hero” mixed with heavy doses of showman. The episode I’m talking about is “The American Experience: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” (The title is a pun of sorts, playing off of William F. Cody’s creation of his “Wild West” show that toured the world in the 1880s and of the role he played in “inventing” much of what we know of as the Old West of popular culture.)

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I urge you, if you have any interest in the history and leadership of Plains Indians — especially the Cheyennes — to get a copy of this excellent book by historian Stan Hoig, “The Peace Chiefs of the Cheyennes.” It was published by University of Oklahoma Press in 1980, and, yes, it IS (or at least at the time I’m writing this article) available to order online directly from University of Oklahoma Press — and, no, I don’t make a plug nickle from the purchase if you go to that link and buy yourself a copy.

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It occurred to me awhile back that many people interested in life in the Old West these days might appreciate some simple, easy ways to find good books and other resources to learn more about the American West. Having grown up in a time when movies, television, and just about every entertainment media had ample references (though often mythical) to the West, this is a subject it never occurred to me might be helpful.

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I don’t think I’ve ever shared a joke here on the Old West site, but this one about an Old Prospector and Young Gunslinger was just to priceless to pass up. Be sure to read the whole thing for the “moral” at the end. Enjoy a little “Old West” humor — with no particular effort to be historically authentic!

An old prospector shuffled into town leading a tired old mule. The old man headed straight for the only saloon in small desert town to quench his parched Throat. He walked up to the saloon and tied his old mule to the hitch rail. As he stood there brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.

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Order rodeo gear, from saddles and ropes to rodeo wear of all sorts, then thank Buffalo Bill Cody for his role in “inventing” or at least popularizing modern rodeos.

Throughout America rodeo fans and participants from kids to old timers enjoy annual “Frontier Days” and high school or college rodeo contests. (I’m not a rodeo fan myself, although I’ve been to a few and had a cousin who was a bona fide professional rodeo clown.) I know there’s a professional rodeo circuit that’s been around for a long time, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (P.R.C.A.), and that cowboys and ranch hands from everywhere enjoy showing off their skills and rising to the challenge of serious rodeo competition all over America.

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Women who traveled to the gold fields often found creative ways to profit in the mining camps of the Old West. In many cases, these were practical, hardworking wives and mothers who brought order to the chaos of the camps and turned hardship into gold of their own.

One such woman, written of in Lillian Schlissel’s wonderful book “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey,” was Luzena Stanley Wilson. She and her husband and three children arrived in Nevada City, California, in 1849, finding two rows of tents lining two steep gulches, the gulches “alive with moving men.”

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Mining claims lay at the heart of the prospectors’ dreams and schemes in the days of Old West gold rushes. Fundamentals of organizing the gold fields (and regions rich in other precious metals) were pretty much the same. Prospectors wisely knew that mining claims were fundamental, but organizing into recognized districts run by elected officials and even lawmen chosen and empowered by voters (usually) were crucial to everyone’s well-being and success.

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Our Pony Express “adventure” anniversary trip began at the Patee House Hotel-Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, after a morning’s travel in trusty Old Blue (our ‘89 Ford station wagon) from Springfield, Missouri.

The Patee House Hotel (and the museum hosted there)  is one of only a handful of original structures still standing and occupied within the Pony Express’ St. Joseph-Fort Kearny Division. Opened in 1858 (two years before the Pony Express started), the Patee House was St. Joseph’s finest hotel in its day. It was turned into a museum of Western History in 1965. In addition to the story of the Pony Express, the museum offers an authentic glimpse of 1850s and 1860s life in this Missouri River town.

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