(Chapter 7 Opener) Frontier leather, c. 1850s to 1880s. Saddle bag and holster combination by Main & Winchester, San Francisco, established 1849. California “slim Jim” style at left, with matching belt, made for 1851 Navy and dating from 1850s; considered earliest style of true Western holster; note lack of cartridge loops in belt. Other three Mexican-style “loop” holsters, made from single piece of leather (top left and center) or with riveted loops (right); the pouch holding handgun fits through loops. Bridgeport gun rig at top patented January 1882, required special extended hammer screw on revolver. Rig at right was Buffalo Bill Cody’s; inscription on silver disk.
Cattle and horses were introduced to the New World by the Spanish explorers. The American cowboy evolved as a mirror of the Mexican vaqueros of Texas, whom the pioneers first saw in the 1820s. As Texas became Americanized, the cowboys took over the cattle herds, estimated at 100,000 head by 1830.
Ranging grew as a Texas industry, and with the introduction of cattle drives, the cowboy and rancher grew to national prominence. Getting cattle to the market meant young men under the guidance of more experienced foremen, working the cattle north in the drive season, from May to September.
The drives were at their peak from 1867 to the mid-1880s, from Texas to the Kansas railheads. A herd of longhorn cattle could run 1,000 to 2,000 head, supervised by only a half-dozen to a dozen cowboys. Stampedes, river crossings, rustlers, hostile Indians, and rattlesnakes were among the obstacles the drovers had to face. One in seven of the cowboys was black, an equal proportion Mexican, and there was a contingency of British, as well as Europeans, and Americans from the East, and—the largest group—native Westerners.
It was a tough and hardy life, but offered an appeal that was both romantic and adventurous. Cowboys captured the imagination, although for decades their image back East was of uncouth roughnecks and rowdies. Soldier and ex-Westerner Richard Irving Dodge painted a picture from firsthand observation (1882, when the image was undergoing some degree of national improvement):
Cowgirl, amply armed with Bisley Colt and a double action revolver, an unlikely combination, and possibly supplied for photograph.
Vaquero high-quality gear, the Colt First Model Dragoon silver-inlaid and engraved; on barrel “Por/Salda Rabia/Amozoc.” Mexican silver-and-steel Bowie knife belonged to Ignacio Zaragoza, hero of Battle of Puebla, May 1862. Spurs with complicated pierced rowels, silver-inlaid, straps sewn with silver and gold thread, c. 1850s; for owner of the spread.
For fidelity to duty, for promptness and vigor of action, for resources in difficulty, and unshaken courage in danger, the cowboy has no superior among men. But there is something in this peculiar life which develops not only the highest virtues, but the most ignoble of vices. It is not solitude, for the shepherds of the Plains lead lives quite as solitary, and they are generally quiet, inoffensive persons. The cow-boy, on the contrary, is usually the most reckless of all the reckless desperadoes developed on the frontier. Disregarding equally the rights and lives of others, and utterly reckless of his own life; always ready with his weapons and spoiling for a fight, he is the terror of all who come near him, his visits to the frontier towns of Kansas and Nebraska being regarded as a calamity second only to a western tornado. His idea of enjoyment is to fill himself full of bad whiskey, mount his mustang, tear through the streets, whooping, yelling, flourishing and firing his pistols until the streets are deserted and every house closed, then with a grim smile of happiness he dashes off to his comrades to excite their envy by graphic pictures of his own exploits and the terror of the timid townspeople.
Firearms were necessary on the trails for defense against Indians or the occasional cattle rustler, to kill a rattlesnake or an injured horse or steer, and for self-defense when in the cattle towns. The towns, at the end of the drive, presented temptations hard for the bedraggled cowpuncher to resist. Abilene in the spring of 1871 would count about 500 people; but by summer it would harbor some 7,000! It was a cowboy’s dream:
[T]he greater number [of transients slept] under blankets spread upon the prairie. As to drink, there was probably more whiskey drank than water, and of quality that would make rabbits fight a bull dog. On the first of June, 1871, the fiery furnace of the Abilene Texas cattle trade was in full blast; it was red hot, everything sizzled. On the southwest corner of First and Cedar Streets was Jake Karatofsky’s General Merchandise Store. Whiskey included in the “General” department. From this corner to the southeast corner of Mulberry and First was a solid wall of saloons, gambling houses and other [dens] of perdition. From the northeast corner of First and Cedar around to the Gulf House … was also a solid row of gambling dens and saloons. These dens were run 24 hours of the day and 30 and 31 days of the month and fresh relays of victims always ready to take the places of those who had lost their last penny at the wheel of fortune, or rather misfortune, and they who were lying dead drunk on the floor or sidewalk. Brass bands, string bands, piano, vocal music were installed inside and at the doors of these places to attract the passer-by and retain the sucker already in the toils, and too, the “Soiled Dove” was there; bedizzened in her gaudy dress, cheap jewelry and high colored cosmetics, and then the Devil himself were there night and day. Talk about “Hell down below.” Why, Abilene was a [seething], roaring, flaming Hell.
Thousands and tens of thousands were staked and lost and won at these gaming tables. One Texas cattle man lost $30,000 at one sitting. I have seen a hatful of gold lying loose in a pile on these tables. Some body steal it? you ask. He would have been bored full of bullets in the twinkling of an eye.*
Representing early and late vaquero arms, for well-to-do rancher: cased pair of Model 1860 Army Colts, ivory grips carved with Mexican eagle, to wear in holsters left and right. Model 1890 Remingtons have monogrammed holsters and monogrammed mother-of-pearl grips. Massive Mexican eagles on bridle bits.
In this environment cowboys and ranchers were supposed to surrender their guns, to avoid shooting confrontations. Sometimes a coin check would be traded for the hardware, to be retrieved on leaving town. Concealed weapons often were snuck into town, and sometimes were brought into play when tempers flared or drinking and carousing got out of hand.
Controlling the lawless drew editorial comment in the local press. A Wichita report (August 1873) decried the serious pounding a visiting cowboy received from local police:
If however, there is any other way in the world to persuade infractors of the city laws to desist, aside from beating them over the head with a revolver, we insist that it should be resorted to, and the knock down business only used in self preservation. It is strange with the reputation our police have far and near, for reckless daring, grit and determination to duty, even at the sacrifice of life, and that anyone should attempt to infringe the law before them, after being told to desist, unless it is done to try their mantle.
Model 1866 Winchester carbine, made for the Mexican market; gold- and nickel-plated. Number 107801. Engraving attributed to L. D. Nimschke, who had a strong Mexican and South American following.
Elegantly attired Mexican hacienda owner, 1860 Army Colt in holster.
Two Mexican friends, c. 1870s. Colt Army conversion in bikini holster; dangerously positioned (though common in Mexico at the period) for quick draw!
“Albert Edward Meredith, out West, in Montana,” marked on back of this cabinet photograph. Rifle a Henry; in belt what appears to be a British bulldog revolver. Sometimes photographers supplied props, possibly the case here. Chaps of “shotgun” style, since of double-barrel shape; fringed edging copied from Indians.
Heavily armed Sawtell Ranch, Idaho, 1872, had wide complement of frontier firearms: Colt 1851 and 1860 revolvers, Remington New Model Army, Sharps and Spencer carbines, Springfield rifles, and much, much more.
These Arizona cowboys carried their handguns tucked into belts, possibly supplied by photographer Fly. Huge rowel spurs at lower right reveal Mexican influence.
Carbon County, Montana, ranch house. Interesting double rifle with fixed bayonet in hands of figure at right, his boot with Bowie knife, and hip with revolver.
From the 1880s, the “Cowboy” marked “No 6,” and thus part of a series. By Cheyenne photographer, C. D. Kirkland.
L. A. Huffman’s Montana prairie scene, The Night Hawk in His Nest. The double-loop holster held a Colt Single Action, with steerhead-carved ivory grips. According to James H. Cook’s Fifty Years on the Old Frontier, when on cattle drives “[e]veryone went armed with a heavy revolver and a knife. But few carried rifles. One reason for this was that the added weight on one side of a horse, on those long, hard trips, was a great cause of saddle galls—something to be strictly guarded against on an eighteen-hundred-mile drive…. Constant practice with both knife and pistol made some of the boys very expert with these weapons.”
At right, an icon of American gunmaking, serial number 1 from production run of Colt Single Action Armys. Found by a collector in the 1930s, and acquired for sum of $4. Companion the earliest-known engraved Peacemaker, number 114; decorated by Nimschke. Both revolvers reproduced in miniature by the U.S. Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, in special collectors’ limited editions authorized by Colt company.
An advantage of cowtown lawmen was the experience of many, who were skilled shots, well armed, and cool under duress. Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, and Bat Masterson, whose reputations were fine-tuned in rough-and-ready Kansas, were three of these men.
Carrying of firearms was common, as recalled by a cowboy with Wyoming’s M-Bar Ranch (1890s):
We all carried guns. I remember that each of the six men had guns almost exactly alike. We all preferred the Colt single-action six-shooter. Some liked the Bisley model, others the Frontier model. Some were of different caliber, but all were built on a .45-caliber frame. I noticed that these men carried their guns with one empty shell in the cylinder, and five loaded cartridges. This was for safety’s sake. The gun was carried with the hammer on the empty shell….
Another wrote: “Guns were as natural a part of a cowhand’s equipment as, say, a jackknife is of a boy’s pocket kit, and only a few didn’t carry them….”
Just how competent were cowboys as pistol shots? That was the theme of an article by “A Bronco-Buster,” in The Rifle magazine, April 1888:
To pull a .22 or .32 calibre on a person, the chances are that he would pay little attention to it…. If you want a man to respect you, draw a .45 on him. Some of the boys can handle a revolver with much accuracy….
A cowboy’s pride is to draw a revolver and turn contents loose in the shortest possible time, and yet make an effective shot. There are many tricks in handling a six-shooter. One is to have muzzle of the revolver pointed towards yourself; revolver being held upside down. Should a person get the drop on you and demand your gun, by making a pretence to give it to him, he little suspects that, by giving the pistol a sudden twirl on your forefinger, the barrel is instantly reversed and contents discharged….
Most of our shooting is done at short range, both when afoot and on horseback…. One of the most difficult feats is to ride a “cayuse” on a gallop, making several circles around a telegraph pole, and endeavoring to make a ring of bullet-holes around same….
I have often heard the question asked of people from the East, why it is that a cowboy prefers a single-action revolver to a double-action, or a self-cocking one. There are several reasons. One is, when discharging the self-cocking pistol it requires ten pounds or more pressure on the trigger; your aim is thus rendered uncertain. Most people who are familiar with revolvers imagine that a double-action pistol in the hands of an expert can be discharged much the quicker. It is done by fastening the trigger back to guard. The hammer is then raised by the thumb, and instantly released. By this method the trigger is not obliged to be pulled. Another way is what we call “fanning” the pistol…. Oh! there are lots to learn by you people in the East who think you know how to handle a six-shooter. If you doubt my word, make a trip out West, visit a Vaqueros camp, and if you have got the “sand,” you will soon know all.
Early six-shooters, with period engraving, pearl or ivory grips, and nickel plating. From top, numbers 27173, 24884, 53073, and 65063. Any of these would be the pride of rancher or cowboy.
Until the barbed-wiring of the West began in earnest in the 1880s, the range remained open and free. Then range wars* became part of the Western saga. The two best-known were the Lincoln County War (New Mexico, 1877–78) and the Johnson County War (Wyoming, 1889–93). These disputes saw some of the bloodiest gun battles in the West.
The most extraordinary shoot-out of the Lincoln County War pitted the McSween and Chisum faction (including Billy the Kid and cohorts, the “Regulators”) against that of Major L. G. Murphy. The root cause was a struggle for economic power. A five-day gunfight took place in Lincoln, starting on July 15, 1878. A posse sprayed the home of McSween with rifle fire. The Kid and a party of twelve ran from a nearby store, guns blazing, and entered the McSween house to even the odds. Other McSween supporters were in two nearby stores and an adjacent house.
Black cowboy, in “wooly chaps,” of angora fur; gave extra warmth in colder areas of West, such as Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and into Canada. Though prejudice and conflict existed, friction was more likely to be between white and Mexican cowboys than between white and black.
Two cowboys horsing around with their Colts. Holsters of Mexican loop style; cowboy on right preferred cross-draw.
Quiet game of cards on the ranch, c. 1895. Model 1892 Winchester carbine held by heavy drinker at right.
Figure at right held Sharps-Borchardt sporting rifle; his holster carried a Merwin & Hulbert, which featured a twist mechanism for automatic ejection of all cartridges at once.
Big Sandy, Montana, cowboys, early 1890s. Note gauntlets or cuffs, shotgun chaps with fringes, and shoulder holster stuffed with Model 1878 Colt double action revolver.
Elaborate credit line to frontier photographer, who captured two men armed with Remington single actions and Remington-Keene bolt-action rifles, c. 1890s.
Positioned against the McSween force of about sixty men were forty supporters of Major Murphy, led by Sheriff George Peppin.
For the next three days, sporadic firing took place, with one of the Regulators in the McSween house killed. A second Regulator was wounded.
On the 16th, shots nearly hit a cavalryman who was coming to advise Peppin that Colonel Nathan A. M. Dudley would not let him borrow a howitzer! The Regulators shot a Murphy man, at a tremendous distance, with a Sharps .45-120 rifle. To the rescue came three soldiers, and a doctor—and the Regulators fired on them as well.
Finally on the fifth day, Colonel Dudley openly took sides, though under orders to remain neutral, and ordered his men into position against the McSween faction. The Colonel, on horseback, led four mounted officers and eleven black cavalrymen, followed by a twelve-pound mountain howitzer and a Gatling gun, to force the McSweens into submission.
Dudley made a show of claiming to be defending women and children rather than taking sides. McSween men abandoned the two stores and adjacent house and took to the hills after Dudley trained his howitzer in their direction. Thus with his force reduced to about twenty, McSween was at a distinct disadvantage.
Peppin’s men moved in closer to the McSween house and started breaking open shutters, smashing windows, and pushing over a brick barricade. When a Peppin deputy shouted to McSween that they had warrants for his arrest, McSween refused to surrender, saying he had warrants to arrest the Peppin posse. In answer to the deputy’s demand to see the warrants, one of the Regulators yelled “Our warrants are in our guns, you c——k-s———g sons-of-bitches.”
Chuck-wagon time had guns at the ready. New Mexico, c. 1885–90.
Sporadic gunfire continued, and a fire set near the back of the house failed to spread, finally going out. Another fire was started at the McSween stable and spread to the house.
Mrs. McSween described the scene, before she left around 5:00 P.M. to reach safety in the nearby Tunstall store, having been preceded by another woman and her children:
The boys talked to each other and McSween and I were sitting in one corner. The boys decided I should leave. They were fighting the fire in my sister’s house [a wing of the same building]. McSween said he guessed that was better…. The Kid was lively and McSween was sad. McSween sat with his head down, and the Kid shook him and told him to get up; that they were going to make a break.
By nightfall, the Regulators had gathered together in the kitchen. Gunfire increased, and the only route of escape was out the back door, through a yard and a gate, then a vacant lot near the Tunstall store, and into woods by a river. Peppin possemen were waiting near the kitchen door. The Regulators made their way out the door, and when they were into the open the flames revealed them to the posse. The gunfire became a staccato, but miraculously four of five escaped unhurt—including Billy the Kid.
Splendid collection of Single Actions, most of twentieth-century vintage, the market for which continued unabated until World War II. Top to bottom, first row, serials 356179, 353113, 331877, and 53073. At right, from top, numbers 352769, 349681, 343042, and 160951. All grips carved with steerhead motif, one with ruby eyes.
Surpassing factory-embellished Single Actions In rarity are specials modified by frontier gunmakers or by New York dealers. Of the former, the Freund Armory of Wyoming and Colorado excelled. Pictured is the finest-known Freund custom Colt, number 83639, with faceted and engraved hammer, coin-silver front sight, game-scene-and-scroll-engraved, engraved pearl grips, inscribed on topstrap FREUNDS ARMORY/CHEYENNE WYO., and gold- and silver-plated.
Billy the Kid, photographed in Sumner, New Mexico, c. 1879–80. An eyewitness described the young outlaw (1878): “He was supposed to be about eighteen, but looked older when you saw him closely. He was sunburned and not much to look at … There were scores just like him all up and down the Pecos. Everything he had on would not have sold for five dollars—an old black slouch hat; worn-out pants and boots, spurs, shirt, and vest; a black cotton handkerchief tied loosely around his neck, the ever-ready Colt double-action .41 pistol around him and in easy reach; [and] an old style .44 rimfire brass-jawed Winchester…. He had a pair of gray-blue eyes that never stopped looking around.” By date of this photo, the Kid was sporting a Single Action Colt and a Model 1873 Winchester. Tintype produced reversed image, and thus the Kid was wearing his Colt on right hip, showing he was right-handed.
Classic trail drive cowboy of 1880s might depart Texas with copy of Loving trail manual. Inside, a guide to brands and full-page ads from merchants in Kansas and Texas. R. E. Rice, Dodge City, took ad to extol virtues of his handmade saddles, gun belts, and other equipment. Belt and holster pictured typical of those by Rice, c. 1881–84. Frontier six-shooter, number 53125, too expensive for most cowboys, especially considering costs for cool drinks, square meal, and female companionship at end of the trail.
The worsening fire forced McSween, still in the house with several men, to call out, “I shall surrender.” Four of Peppin’s men were approaching the kitchen door when suddenly McSween shouted, “I shall never surrender.”
The shooting then started again. What took place was termed by a participant “the big killing”—at point-blank range, McSween and two of his henchmen were killed in a matter of seconds. Four McSween Regulators escaped, one badly wounded. One of the Peppin men died, shot through the eye.
The Kid and the rest of the Regulators had escaped, one of them claiming, “We have got out of something worse than this.”
The five-day battle was the toughest shooting fray yet for Billy the Kid, and proved his coolness under fire. It was the kind of pluck and courage that would soon make him one of the most famous of Western cowboy-rustler-gunfighter-outlaws.
The Johnson County War pitted cattle barons against small ranchers. The most extraordinary confrontation, an all-day gun battle, saw Nate Champion, a noted gunslinger, and his friend Nick Ray trapped in a cabin by no less than fifty supporters of the powerful and ruthless Wyoming Stock Growers Association. Champion dragged the wounded Ray back into the cabin while shooting at the attackers with his Colt Single Action. Champion’s account of the battle shows his cool nerve:
The Bar C roundup wagon, c. 1884. Second from right, standing, the heroic Nate Champion.
Still-life photograph by Roosevelt, of his Elkhorn ranch house, c. 1885. Against the large elk rack at center was TR’s Model 1876 .45-75 rifle; at bottom right his fancy saddle; at top right one of his custom Colt six-shooters in hand-tooled holster.
From a grateful Theodore Roosevelt to hunting guide and ranch hand William Merrifield, whose name is inscribed on backstrap, this Merwin & Hulbert was engraved and then plated in gold, and fitted in handsome J. & S. Collins & Co. holster and belt rig. Merrifield had taken TR on successful hunt for a grizzly bear. A Tiffany watch also given guide, inscribed inside lid: “If it’s a black bear I can tree him; if it’s a grizzly, I can bay him.”
Two of Theodore Roosevelt’s frequent companions in his ranching days: the Colt .44-40 termed his “best western revolver” and customized for him by L. D. Nimschke. Winchester .40-60, also by Nimschke, a favored “saddle gun for deer and antelope.” Superb two-loop holster, deluxe-carved, as were TR’s saddle and other equipment. Revolver number 92248; rifle number 45704.
From the armory of Montana rancher Granville Stuart, five-shot Webley bulldog revolver was .45 c.f. caliber and nickel-plated. Engraving likely done by Nimschke; not an English style.
Worthy of the most successful rancher, Sharps Model 1853 sporting rifle number 8249 was factory-engraved, had double set triggers and select walnut stocks. The letterhead from the renowned Freund Brothers, known throughout the frontier for their sights, and their craftsmanship.
Nick is shot but not dead yet. He is awful sick. I must go and wait on him. It is now about two hours since the first shot. Nick is still alive. They are still shooting and are all around the house. Boys, there is bullets coming in here like hail. Them fellows is in such shape I can’t get at them. They are shooting from the stable and river and back of the house. Nick is dead. He died about 9 o’clock.
Finally the attacking ranchers torched the cabin. Champion closed his diary with:
Well, they have just got through shelling the house like hell. I heard them splitting wood. I guess they are going to fire the house tonight. I think I will make a break when night comes, if alive. It’s not night yet.
The house is all fired. Goodbye, boys, if I never see you again.
Champion signed his name, then bolted out the back door, firing his rifle. He was struck by twenty-eight bullets. On his vest the ranchmen attached a warning: CATTLE THIEVES BEWARE.
The shoot-out was a graphic highlight of the Michael Cimino big-budget film Heaven’s Gate, the most expensive Western ever made.
Several of Granville Stuart’s frontier guns. The Winchester Model 1873 a One of One Thousand, number 7282. The 1876 profusely engraved with game scenes and scrollwork, number 10001; carrier block inscribed “Granville Stuart/1880.” Sharps Sporting Rifle, number 25038, had belonged to James Stuart, and later brother Granville, and was presented by his widow to artist E. S. Paxson. The rifle was used by James on the Yellowstone Expedition of 1863. Henry rifle factory-engraved and inscribed with name “J. B. Stuart” (possibly the Confederate general, who was a first cousin of Granville and James). The Colt Model 1877 was regularly carried by Granville. Pack saddle and handcuffs also Granville Stuart’s. Extensive documentation shows that Stuart was one of the keenest arms enthusiasts of any Westerner, and frequently indulged his capacity to acquire fine guns. He even sent illustrations to the Winchester factory for guiding the engravers on his Model 1876 custom rifle. On its arrival he wrote the factory: “I am satisfied with its looks. If it prooves to be as good [accurate] as it is beautiful (women seldom do) it is a world-beater.”
Rancher James H. Cook, c. 1886–87. Colt and Winchester both deluxe, as was his deerskin outfit. Cook wrote Fifty Years on the Frontier, a fascinating source on the West.
Advertisement from the 1881 edition of Loving’s Live Stock Manual, for selling the Colt Peacemaker, and more. Brands drawn by manual owner.
Studio shot of teenage cowboy, his revolver apparently a Remington Model 1875 or 1890, with pearl or ivory grips: a luxury considering wages at the time.
This cowboy secured his raised-carved-grip Single Action in angora woolly chaps (with matching cuffs) by opening the loading gate. Only period photo known to author documenting that practice.
This Model 1895 Winchester, signed with buffalo head and CMR monogram, was engraved by cowboy artist Charles M. Russell for his friend Frank Linderman. Engraving done with jackknife. Dated 1913. On the other side, a buffalo bull, cow, and calf, and bull elk. When finished Russell said, “There she is…. Now the old gal [the rifle] will always have fresh meat in sight.”
Ranch hand photographed by Blaine & Williams, Campbell, California, 1903. Chaps of batwing style, holster of Mexican double-loop pattern.
Mexican gentleman and son, c. 1880, nattily dressed, and with matching gun rigs. Father with Merwin & Hulbert, son with French or Belgian revolver.
No less an authority than Theodore Roosevelt wrote of the arms of the 1880s rancher, typical of many bosses, the quality of whose armory often exceeded the basics of his cowboys:
When I first came to the plains I had a heavy Sharps rifle, 45–120, shooting an ounce and a quarter of lead and a 50 [-150] calibre, double-barrelled English express [by Webley]. Both of these, especially the latter, had a vicious recoil; the former was very clumsy; and above all they were neither of them repeaters; for a repeater or magazine gun is as much superior to a single- or double-barreled breech-loader as the latter is to a muzzle-loader. I threw them both aside….
On handguns, TR summed up preferences with: “Of course, every ranchman carries a revolver, a 45 Colt or Smith & Wesson, by preference the former.” In his own battery were two exquisitely engraved Single Actions, one with monogrammed and carved ivory grips, the other with mother-of-pearl grips inscribed in script Theodore Roosevelt.
Ranchers like Roosevelt, and Montana’s Granville Stuart, were so keen on firearms that they had veritable collections. TR referred to his whole rig, saddle, bridle, spurs, guns, and more: “I now look a regular cowboy dandy, with all my equipments finished in the most expensive style…” One of these specials was a .40-60 Winchester. In describing it he summed up the thoughts on rifles of most ranchers:
A ranchman … with whom hunting is of secondary importance, and who cannot be bothered by carrying a long rifle always round with him on horseback, but who, nevertheless, wishes to have some weapon with which he can kill what game he runs across, usually adopts a short, light saddle-gun, a carbine, weighing but five or six pounds, and of such convenient shape that it can be kept under his thigh alongside the saddle. A 40-60 Winchester is perhaps the best for such a purpose, as it carries far and straight, and hits hard, and is a first-rate weapon for deer and antelope, and can also be used with effect against sheep, elk, and even bear, although for these last a heavier weapon is of course preferable.
Cowboy preferences in guns were the same as those of their rancher bosses, only far less likely to be fancy, and more often limited to a handgun (Colt Single Action preferred), and possibly a long gun (Winchester lever-action carbine preferred).
Barbed wire and farming nudged the cowboy and rancher aside in the 1890s. Thereafter ranches were reduced in size (some down from millions of acres), but the image cultivated by the entertainment industry, and begun by Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, has remained a cherished American legacy. And it was Buffalo Bill’s Wild West that would give the cowboy an image of rustic respectability, in contrast to that of a hell-raising roughneck.
Extremely deluxe Colts, holsters, spurs, and saddle heavily encrusted with silver, popular with wealthy ranchers south of the border.
* Theophilus Little, “Early Days of Abilene and Dickinson County,” in Adolph Roenigk, Pioneer History of Kansas.
* Some “range wars” were actually mercantile wars, as was that of Lincoln County, fought over supply contracts with the army and the nearby Apache reservation.
