September 15, 2023 • 23 mins
From Stetson hats to barbed wire, this episode sheds some light on little-known Wild West icons and how they came to be.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In the mid eighteen hundreds, settlers on the East coast
began to look west. The territories there promised a new
life and a place to generate wealth. Beginning there was
fraught with peril, and some of the best lands were
already inhabited by the indigenous peoples. Of course, building homesteads
and raising crops and cattle meant a lot of work.
(00:25):
Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas Nebraska Act of
eighteen fifty four, allowing the territories to permit slavery or
stay a free state. Nebraska remained a free state. Kansas
turned into a battleground, and so began the era known
as Bleeding Kansas. Abolitionists arrived hoping to keep Kansas a
(00:46):
free state. Thousands of heavily armed settlers also came to
Kansas with the intent to cast illegal votes and harassed
voters opposed to slavery. Murder and destruction escalated, with activists
from each side patrol neighborhoods for their enemies, destroying property
without mercy. The physical and psychological warfare forced many families
(01:07):
to flee. It's not a story we often associate with
early life on the frontier. But then again, the West
is full of legends, some familiar and some not so much.
I'm Aaron Manke, and welcome to the Wild West. When
(01:32):
we picture cowboys, we envision men like Clint Eastwood or
John Wayne. We see ten gallon hats and men driving
herds of cattle across in open range. The image of
men wearing caps, spurs and the iconic stets and hat
riding down dusty trails is an image that we all
have in our heads. But did you know that cowboys
didn't wear cowboy hats for starters? The traditional stetson hat
(01:55):
wasn't invented until eighteen sixty five, and even then people
didn't frequently wear them until the late nineteenth century. So
what did cowboys wear? They wore bowler hats, which were
originally designed in London in eighteen forty nine. The bowler
was a hat of choice from Batmasterson to Butch Cassidy
and the Sun Dance Kid. All right, so there's one
(02:16):
myth dispelled. Next up, how did the stetson earn the
nickname the ten gallon hat? Well, some stories claim that
it could hold ten gallons of water, which would honestly
take a hat of cartoonish size. Experts believe it might
have gotten the nickname from the braided headbands called galons
that Mexican vakos put on their sombreros. Some of their
sombreros were tall enough to fit ten headbands. American cowboys
(02:39):
referred to the ten gallon hats as ten gallon hats.
So where did the word cowboy come from? Anyway? Well, again,
you might be surprised. With the gold Rush, the Civil War,
and the push to colonize the West, settlers saw the
open and often cheap land out west as an opportunity
for those looking to escape debts. The Mexican territory is
(03:00):
now Texas was an attractive place to start fresh, whatever
the reasons. When the farmers and ranchers left the coast,
those who trafficked and enslaved people often took them along.
Over one hundred and eighty two thousand enslaved people lived
in Texas by eighteen sixty. When the Civil War started
in eighteen sixty one, Texas joined the Confederacy. Barbed wire
(03:20):
hadn't been invented yet, and keeping cattle from straying was
impossible without someone to round them up, so many of
these ranchers relied on enslaved people to work with the
cattle and other livestock. After the war, ranchers hired freed
African Americans as cowhans. The work was tough, often dangerous,
and physically challenging, but it's important to remember that those
(03:40):
who worked cattle in livestock were a very diverse group.
Most cowboys were either freed black men, Mexican or Native Americans.
But the word cowboy itself wasn't a post war term.
In fact, that word might have first appeared during the
American Revolution, when loyalists stole cattle to sell to the
Red Coats. In the Civil War, the term became a
sonociated with bushwhackers, men who took to forms of guerrilla
(04:03):
warfare and raids. In eighteen eighty one, a newspaper referenced cowboys,
writing that they were nothing more than lawless roaming gangs.
President Chester A. Arthur told Congress that cowboys had become
a menace in Arizona. In other words, those who worked
as cowboys were not well respected. It wouldn't be until
much later, though, that we idolized cowboys as the rough
(04:25):
and rugged men in movies and books. Earlier on, though,
because society looked down on cowboys, the men who worked
that job tended to form close bonds, and in a
job where longhorns needed extracting from shrubs and cattle needed
moving from one location to another, it's easy to see
the men had to depend on each other. In movies
and other media, cowboys are sometimes depicted as loaners, yet
(04:49):
life on the frontier met depending on others for survival.
Cowboys worked roads, slept, and ate together for companionship, safety,
and job efficiency. According to the te teen fifty California census,
ninety percent of the state's population were men, and sure
there were red light districts in cities and towns, but
life for extended periods at a time on the range
(05:11):
was typically void of women. Derogatory or not. Being a
cowboy was still a man's job, and like miners, the
men depended on each other, and while many did not
engage in sexual activities, they still created the same intimacy
and bonds found in traditional family units. Others, though, did
become more intimate, and remember, humans need love and companionship,
(05:33):
and without much human contact, especially from women, some of
the men found love where they could like William Drummond,
Stuart and Antoine Clement. When William's older brother died, William
returned to Scotland and Antoine followed. For several decades, we've
called the Old West the wild West, and while we
think we know how most people lived and worked, it
(05:53):
turns out life on the frontier didn't exactly fit Hollywood's description.
Charles Goodnight had a lot to say about Bo's I
Card brave, honest, and hard working, like so many enslaved people.
I Card's birthday was never recorded. The best estimate is
(06:15):
that he was born between eighteen forty three and eighteen
forty seven in Somerville, Mississippi, but that's a huge gap.
He and his mother were both owned by doctor Milton
I Card. Bows grew up with the doctor's son, and
there is some speculation that the doctor might have also
been Boz's father. The i Cards moved to Texas in
eighteen fifty two, settling in Parker County. Settlers there often
(06:37):
fought with Comanche and Kiowa tribes, who were less than
pleased with settlers encroaching on their homeland. The I Cards
took to cattle ranching, and young Bos helped with the livestock.
Doctor Icard served with the Confederate Army during the Civil War,
leaving Bos and others to manage the cattle. He returned
after the war, but the Emancipation Proclamation forced him to
(06:57):
free his enslaved people on the ranch, although he did
offer to hire them instead. All of them chose to stay,
but it isn't clear if they did so because they
had no other opportunities, or if they stayed because they
wanted to. In eighteen sixty six, Bose took a job
with Oliver Loving. The ranch had a particularly stubborn horse
that threw everyone who tried to break it. The other
(07:18):
ranch hands challenged Bos to ride it to stop the
bronco from bucking Bows bit the horse. Instead of working
the ranch as merely a cow hand, Bos helped drive
the cattle to market. Now it took ten cowboys to
drive the cattle, and each cowboy had three horses. In addition,
the crew included a trail boss, a cook, and a
horse wrangler to care for the spare horses on trail drives.
(07:41):
The cook was the one who was the most respected.
Their job entailed driving the chuck wagon, preparing the meals,
and managing medical supplies. The horse wrangler held the most
entry level position, and every drive cost a rancher one
thousand dollars in wages and supplies. Once the cowboys got
the cattle to their destination, to brancher sold the herd
for roughly twenty to thirty five dollars per head, and
(08:04):
then the trail boss paid the crew, cutting them loose
to do as they wished. After spending months on the road,
the men naturally headed to towns for baths, shaves, haircuts,
and to do some drinking and gambling. Now typically the
cattle were loaded onto trains heading out to Dodge City,
although some drives took the crew as far as Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana,
and other northern cities. As for Bos, who worked for
(08:26):
the team of Oliver Loving and his partner Charles Goodnight,
they stuck to a stretch of trail from Texas to Wyoming.
The trail, created in eighteen sixty six became known as
the good Night Loving Trail. The journey to Wyoming came
with plenty of danger too. The cowboys and crew traveled
a long distance, some of which took them across hostile
Native American territory. And of course there was the cattle
(08:49):
to care for. A crew of eighteen cowboys set out
from Fort Belknat, Texas on June sixth of eighteen sixty six,
with two thousand Texas Longhorns in their care. Bows not
only he helped drive the cattle, but good Night also
trusted him to carry the money that they made while
on the road. The crew made another drive in the
summer of eighteen sixty seven. This time Oliver Loving and
(09:10):
another crew member rode ahead. Comanches attacked the men, and
Loving later died from his injuries. The drive couldn't be stopped, though,
and they pushed on, collecting Loving's body on the return trip.
They carried his body home and gave him a proper burial.
Bows decided to retire from life on the trail in
eighteen sixty nine. Initially, he planned to settle in Colorado,
(09:31):
but Goodnight talked him into purchasing a farm in Weatherford,
Texas instead. Bo's agreed. Good Night visited his friend whenever
he passed through Parker County. Census data shows that Bos
and his new wife, Angelina settled into a farming life
and raised their children there. Every now and then, Bows
reunited with his fellow cowboys and friends. He lived a
(09:52):
good life and passed away on January fourth of nineteen
twenty nine at his sister's house in Austin, Texas. His
family returned his Bo to Weatherford and buried him in
the Greenwood Cemetery. Charles good Night more in the loss
by making sure Bo's could never be forgotten. He paid
for a monument to mark his friend's grave. Women had
(10:19):
few opportunities in the nineteenth century. The law prohibited women
from inheriting or owning property. In many of the Eastern States,
jobs were limited for single women. The most common forms
of employment were teachers and governesses, and neither paid enough
to live on. Others turned to sex work. The only
financial security women had was to marry well. Marriage presented
(10:41):
another set of problems, though many had to choose between
financial security and physical and mental well being. And although
the West was just as male dominated as the East,
if a woman had a little money and a lot
of tenacity and luck, she just might have a few
more options, including purchasing land, and such was the case
for Elizabeth with Ellen Johnson, her parents Thomas Jefferson Johnson
(11:03):
and Catherine welcomed her as their second child in eighteen forty.
After Elizabeth, the couple would have five more children together.
They moved from town to town to follow her father's
teaching jobs, before settling in Bear Creek, Texas. Now. Elizabeth's
father believed in giving his children a solid education, and
Lizzie and her siblings went to the Johnson Institute for
(11:24):
their basic education. There's no evidence suggesting that the Johnsons
had any affiliation with the institute of the same name, though. Lizzie,
as she'd come to be known, earned her degree from
the Chapel Hill Female College in eighteen fifty nine, and
she followed in her father's footsteps becoming a teacher. She
worked at the Johnson Institute before founding a primary school
in Austin, and then more teaching jobs followed after that.
(11:47):
She taught at the Lockhart Pleasant Hill School, the Parsons Seminary,
and the Oak Grove Academy. Lizzie eventually bought property in
eighteen seventy three, choosing to teach classes on the first
floor of her two story home. In addition to teaching,
she wrote and submitted stories to popular magazines and kept
books for local ranchers, and because of her interactions with them,
(12:08):
Lizzie learned how profitable cattle ranching could actually be. Her
investment in a cattle company earned her a nice profit.
She took the money and bought land and more cattle,
registering her brand on June first of eighteen seventy one.
Seven years later, in eighteen seventy eight, she received a
grant for the one hundred and sixty acres, which allowed
her to run her business without consulting the men in
(12:30):
her life. Lizzie married Hezekiel George Williams on June eighth
of eighteen seventy nine. Hez, as his friends and family
called him, had been a widower with children in a
reverse role. He might have been looking for financial support,
but Lizzie knew enough to protect her hard earned money.
Hez signed a prenup agreement before their wedding. He and
(12:51):
Lizzie kept their business and their money separate. Hez didn't
share in his wife's business sense, and Lizzie often loaned
him money, although she was clear that he had to
pay her back. While there were other female ranchers out there,
Lizzie might have been the first to participate in a
cattle drive. She made the two month journey up the
Chisholm Trail several times, earning her the title of the
(13:12):
Cattle Queen of Texas. Now and then, Hez would join
his wife on the trip. Ever, the entrepreneur, Lizzie branched
into real estate after that, purchasing land and ranches in
several counties. At one point, she even owned the Brugerhoff Building,
which had been a temporary home to the Supreme Court.
Her husband's lack of financial finesse, though, caused a couple
(13:33):
plenty of problems. During a negotiation with Cuba over cattle,
Hez was actually taken hostage. Lizzie paid the fifty thousand
dollars ransom to rescue her husband. In eighteen ninety six,
she bought her husband's cattle business for twenty grand. Whatever
storms the couple weathered, though, it was clear to everyone
how much they loved each other, and when Hez passed
(13:53):
away in nineteen fourteen, Lizzie became a recluse. After that,
she moved to an apartment in Austin. Who met her
there believed that she was poor. Imagine their surprise after
her death on October ninth of nineteen twenty four, when
Lizzie's heirs learned that she still owned several properties and
distributed on each of those properties, they found diamonds, other
(14:14):
expensive jewelry, and other valuables. Her total worth came to
nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Her family buried
her next to Hez in the Oakwood Cemetery. Lizzie, the
cattle Queen of Texas, proved that even in the earliest
days of the West, women could still break the glass ceiling.
(14:38):
To this day, we are fascinated with the American West,
and for good reason. There's no shortage of stories and
interesting details. From bowler hats and stetsons to how cowboys
got their name, there is always an interesting detail or two.
The Gold Rush and the westward expansion during the mid
eighteen hundreds brought on a new problem though, feeding all
those settlers. While we think of cattle, sheep became a
(15:01):
necessary commodity and provided food and wool. The favored sheep
were Marinos, a breed that originated in Spain. The Germans
crossbred the marino with a Saxon sheep and brought this
new breed to Australia. Basque herders from Spain traveled to Australia,
bought sheep, and then sailed to the American West. And
while we think of cowboys on horses, to herd cattle
(15:23):
sheep were a bit different. For that cowboys used dogs.
Eastern settlers often used English shepherds, border Collies and other
collie breeds, but the Basque herders brought rough and rugged
dogs with them that were a cross between English herding breeds,
and these new dogs took on a lot of responsibilities too.
They herded the sheep, provided companionship, and sometimes even served
(15:46):
as guard dogs. Of course, the herding dogs from Great
Britain inner bread with the newcomers, creating a new breed. Frequently,
these new dogs sported merril coat colors and were sometimes
born without a tail or a short bob. Their intelligence,
their bravery, and their strong work ethic caught everyone's attention.
Native Americans revered the dogs, calling them ghost Eye for
(16:07):
their pale blue eyes. Shaggy and powerful. The dog's endurance
and loyalty made them a favorite for tending sheep and
companionship during long months on the trail. Although this new
breed had been created in America, Western settlers knew them
as the little herding dogs from Australia. In the following decades,
the breed's courage and agility made them favorites at rodeos
(16:28):
and as circus performers. The Australian shepherd began in the
Old West and is as American as the cowboy. Keeping
a thousand head of cattle or sheep from wandering off
was hard work, though dogs helped, but the real change
came in the early eighteen seventies. On October twenty seventh
of eighteen seventy three, Joseph Gliddon, a farmer in Illinois,
(16:49):
changed life for the cowboy when he applied for a
patent on his own version of the barbed wire fence.
His take improved the design by twisting two strands instead
of one. As you might imagine, a single strand of
wire was no match for a longhorn steer intent on
grazing a green patch of grass on the other side
of a fence. Ranchers needed something more than just stronger wire,
(17:11):
though they needed something spiky. But the barbed single strand
version had a devastating effect on cattle and bison. It
turned out that neither animal could see the single strand
very well, and they frequently became ensnared, unable to free
themselves bow they died of starvation, thirst one, or infection
that mustard told cheap and counted. Through this brief sponsor,
(17:31):
farmers and ranchers across the nation found the improved version
of barbed wire indispensable for keeping livestock from roaming off
or eating certain crops. The fence was great news for
farmers and ranchers, but not the cowboy driving cattle to
the railroads. Those fences blocked off the land that they
had once driven their cattle across, and now there were
fewer cowboys at that time to handle these more complicated drives.
(17:55):
In a way, barbed wire did exactly what it promised
to do to keep boundaries secure, but in the process
it put an end to one of the ideals that
made the West so wild to begin with, proving once
again that progress isn't always a friend to folklore. The
(18:17):
cowboy is a central figure of wild West folklore, so
I hope you enjoyed today's journey through some of those tales.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Hollywood has created quite a few notable wild West characters.
One of The most recognizable is the Lone Ranger. Children
across America tuned in to watch the popular TV show
featuring a masked white man on a white horse, riding
wrongs and serving justice alongside his Native American sidekick Tonto.
Few know that the character is inspired by a real
(19:01):
Old West hero, Bass Reeves. Despite being one of the
most accomplished lawmen of the time, Bass's story has been
largely overlooked by mainstream history books. Born into slavery in
Crawford County, Arkansas, in eighteen thirty eight, he was just
eight years old when State Legislator William S. Reeves moved
to Grayson County, Texas and took Bass, his parents, and
(19:23):
other enslaved workers with him. Not long after they arrived,
Reeves gave Bass to his son, Colonel George R.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Reeves.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Over the years, Bass grew to be an enormous man,
standing at over six feet two inches tall. Sources say
he possessed good manners and an even better sense of humor.
But when the war broke out, George Reeves took Bass
with him when he went to fight for the Confederacy.
It was during the war that the two parted ways.
Some say Bass managed to escape. Other sources claim that
(19:52):
Bass and George got into a fight over a card
game and the argument turned violent. According to the story,
Bass seriously injured George, and either way, Bass fled to
Native American territory, where he couldn't be pursued. Over the years,
he lived among the Seminole and Creek tribes and learned
their languages and customs. With the Emancipation Proclamation, Bass could
(20:15):
leave the tribes and return to the United States and
to Arkansas. In eighteen sixty three, he settled down and
became a farmer. A year later, he married Nellie Jenny,
and the two started a family, eventually having five girls
and five boys. To supplement the family income, Bass occasionally
worked for the US Deputy Marshals. Fate had something exciting
(20:35):
in store for Bass. In eighteen seventy five, Isaac Parker,
the newly appointed judge of the Western District of Arkansas,
was looking for a US marshal to bring law and
order to the lawless Indian territory. Parker was known as
the Hanging Judge and was famous for his tough stance
on crime and his determination to bring order to the
wild West. Parker appointed U. S. Marshal James f fakein
(20:59):
to up approximately two hundred deputies. Fagan learned that Bass
could speak several different languages and that he had a
solid knowledge of the area. Bass Reeves was clearly an
unmatched asset and was hired in short order. Fagan appointed
Bass as a deputy U. S. Marshal, making him the
first African American to hold the position. Bass was a
(21:20):
skilled tracker and marksman, and he quickly gained a reputation
as a fearless lawman who always got his man. Throughout
his career, Bass arrested more than three thousand felons and
was credited with killing fourteen outlaws in self defense. Bass
was ingenius. He created clever disguises, using everything from a
preacher's frock to farmer's overalls to blend in with his
(21:42):
surroundings and catch his targets off guard. One of Bass's
most famous cases involved taking down the notorious outlaw Bob Doser,
who had been terrorizing the Oklahoma territory for years. Bass
spent months tracking Doser, known for his sharpshooting ability and
his talent for eluding the law, but Bass finally caught
(22:03):
up with him and in an epic shootout killed Dojer,
ending the outlaw's reign of terror. Bassue cut an imposing
figure on a large white stallion and dressed sharp, with
a pair of cold pistols at his hips. Adept at
shooting from his right or his left hand, bass was
a quick draw and usually hit his mark. Bassa's exploits
became legendary in his own time, and he inspired countless
(22:26):
dime novels and tall tales, but his legacy goes beyond
his feats as a lawman. Basa's story is a testament
to his resilience and determination during one of the most
challenging periods in American history. Bass's life also serves as
a reminder that history is often shaped by the stories
that are told and retold. Today, the story of bass
(22:47):
Reeves is finally being rediscovered and rightfully celebrated.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Grimm and Maud Presents The Wild West was executive produced
by me Aaron Manky and hosted by Aaron Mankey and
Alexandra Steed. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo,
with research by Alexandra Steed, Sam Alberty, Cassandra de Alba,
and Harry Marx. Fact Checking was performed by Jamie Vargas,
with sensitivity reading by Stacy Parshall Jensen. Production assistance was
(23:14):
provided by Josh Stain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
To learn more about this and other shows from Grim
and Mild and iHeartRadio, visit Grimandmild dot com
In the mid eighteen hundreds, settlers on the East coast
began to look west. The territories there promised a new
life and a place to generate wealth. Beginning there was
fraught with peril, and some of the best lands were
already inhabited by the indigenous peoples. Of course, building homesteads
and raising crops and cattle meant a lot of work.
(00:25):
Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas Nebraska Act of
eighteen fifty four, allowing the territories to permit slavery or
stay a free state. Nebraska remained a free state. Kansas
turned into a battleground, and so began the era known
as Bleeding Kansas. Abolitionists arrived hoping to keep Kansas a
(00:46):
free state. Thousands of heavily armed settlers also came to
Kansas with the intent to cast illegal votes and harassed
voters opposed to slavery. Murder and destruction escalated, with activists
from each side patrol neighborhoods for their enemies, destroying property
without mercy. The physical and psychological warfare forced many families
(01:07):
to flee. It's not a story we often associate with
early life on the frontier. But then again, the West
is full of legends, some familiar and some not so much.
I'm Aaron Manke, and welcome to the Wild West. When
(01:32):
we picture cowboys, we envision men like Clint Eastwood or
John Wayne. We see ten gallon hats and men driving
herds of cattle across in open range. The image of
men wearing caps, spurs and the iconic stets and hat
riding down dusty trails is an image that we all
have in our heads. But did you know that cowboys
didn't wear cowboy hats for starters? The traditional stetson hat
(01:55):
wasn't invented until eighteen sixty five, and even then people
didn't frequently wear them until the late nineteenth century. So
what did cowboys wear? They wore bowler hats, which were
originally designed in London in eighteen forty nine. The bowler
was a hat of choice from Batmasterson to Butch Cassidy
and the Sun Dance Kid. All right, so there's one
(02:16):
myth dispelled. Next up, how did the stetson earn the
nickname the ten gallon hat? Well, some stories claim that
it could hold ten gallons of water, which would honestly
take a hat of cartoonish size. Experts believe it might
have gotten the nickname from the braided headbands called galons
that Mexican vakos put on their sombreros. Some of their
sombreros were tall enough to fit ten headbands. American cowboys
(02:39):
referred to the ten gallon hats as ten gallon hats.
So where did the word cowboy come from? Anyway? Well, again,
you might be surprised. With the gold Rush, the Civil War,
and the push to colonize the West, settlers saw the
open and often cheap land out west as an opportunity
for those looking to escape debts. The Mexican territory is
(03:00):
now Texas was an attractive place to start fresh, whatever
the reasons. When the farmers and ranchers left the coast,
those who trafficked and enslaved people often took them along.
Over one hundred and eighty two thousand enslaved people lived
in Texas by eighteen sixty. When the Civil War started
in eighteen sixty one, Texas joined the Confederacy. Barbed wire
(03:20):
hadn't been invented yet, and keeping cattle from straying was
impossible without someone to round them up, so many of
these ranchers relied on enslaved people to work with the
cattle and other livestock. After the war, ranchers hired freed
African Americans as cowhans. The work was tough, often dangerous,
and physically challenging, but it's important to remember that those
(03:40):
who worked cattle in livestock were a very diverse group.
Most cowboys were either freed black men, Mexican or Native Americans.
But the word cowboy itself wasn't a post war term.
In fact, that word might have first appeared during the
American Revolution, when loyalists stole cattle to sell to the
Red Coats. In the Civil War, the term became a
sonociated with bushwhackers, men who took to forms of guerrilla
(04:03):
warfare and raids. In eighteen eighty one, a newspaper referenced cowboys,
writing that they were nothing more than lawless roaming gangs.
President Chester A. Arthur told Congress that cowboys had become
a menace in Arizona. In other words, those who worked
as cowboys were not well respected. It wouldn't be until
much later, though, that we idolized cowboys as the rough
(04:25):
and rugged men in movies and books. Earlier on, though,
because society looked down on cowboys, the men who worked
that job tended to form close bonds, and in a
job where longhorns needed extracting from shrubs and cattle needed
moving from one location to another, it's easy to see
the men had to depend on each other. In movies
and other media, cowboys are sometimes depicted as loaners, yet
(04:49):
life on the frontier met depending on others for survival.
Cowboys worked roads, slept, and ate together for companionship, safety,
and job efficiency. According to the te teen fifty California census,
ninety percent of the state's population were men, and sure
there were red light districts in cities and towns, but
life for extended periods at a time on the range
(05:11):
was typically void of women. Derogatory or not. Being a
cowboy was still a man's job, and like miners, the
men depended on each other, and while many did not
engage in sexual activities, they still created the same intimacy
and bonds found in traditional family units. Others, though, did
become more intimate, and remember, humans need love and companionship,
(05:33):
and without much human contact, especially from women, some of
the men found love where they could like William Drummond,
Stuart and Antoine Clement. When William's older brother died, William
returned to Scotland and Antoine followed. For several decades, we've
called the Old West the wild West, and while we
think we know how most people lived and worked, it
(05:53):
turns out life on the frontier didn't exactly fit Hollywood's description.
Charles Goodnight had a lot to say about Bo's I
Card brave, honest, and hard working, like so many enslaved people.
I Card's birthday was never recorded. The best estimate is
(06:15):
that he was born between eighteen forty three and eighteen
forty seven in Somerville, Mississippi, but that's a huge gap.
He and his mother were both owned by doctor Milton
I Card. Bows grew up with the doctor's son, and
there is some speculation that the doctor might have also
been Boz's father. The i Cards moved to Texas in
eighteen fifty two, settling in Parker County. Settlers there often
(06:37):
fought with Comanche and Kiowa tribes, who were less than
pleased with settlers encroaching on their homeland. The I Cards
took to cattle ranching, and young Bos helped with the livestock.
Doctor Icard served with the Confederate Army during the Civil War,
leaving Bos and others to manage the cattle. He returned
after the war, but the Emancipation Proclamation forced him to
(06:57):
free his enslaved people on the ranch, although he did
offer to hire them instead. All of them chose to stay,
but it isn't clear if they did so because they
had no other opportunities, or if they stayed because they
wanted to. In eighteen sixty six, Bose took a job
with Oliver Loving. The ranch had a particularly stubborn horse
that threw everyone who tried to break it. The other
(07:18):
ranch hands challenged Bos to ride it to stop the
bronco from bucking Bows bit the horse. Instead of working
the ranch as merely a cow hand, Bos helped drive
the cattle to market. Now it took ten cowboys to
drive the cattle, and each cowboy had three horses. In addition,
the crew included a trail boss, a cook, and a
horse wrangler to care for the spare horses on trail drives.
(07:41):
The cook was the one who was the most respected.
Their job entailed driving the chuck wagon, preparing the meals,
and managing medical supplies. The horse wrangler held the most
entry level position, and every drive cost a rancher one
thousand dollars in wages and supplies. Once the cowboys got
the cattle to their destination, to brancher sold the herd
for roughly twenty to thirty five dollars per head, and
(08:04):
then the trail boss paid the crew, cutting them loose
to do as they wished. After spending months on the road,
the men naturally headed to towns for baths, shaves, haircuts,
and to do some drinking and gambling. Now typically the
cattle were loaded onto trains heading out to Dodge City,
although some drives took the crew as far as Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana,
and other northern cities. As for Bos, who worked for
(08:26):
the team of Oliver Loving and his partner Charles Goodnight,
they stuck to a stretch of trail from Texas to Wyoming.
The trail, created in eighteen sixty six became known as
the good Night Loving Trail. The journey to Wyoming came
with plenty of danger too. The cowboys and crew traveled
a long distance, some of which took them across hostile
Native American territory. And of course there was the cattle
(08:49):
to care for. A crew of eighteen cowboys set out
from Fort Belknat, Texas on June sixth of eighteen sixty six,
with two thousand Texas Longhorns in their care. Bows not
only he helped drive the cattle, but good Night also
trusted him to carry the money that they made while
on the road. The crew made another drive in the
summer of eighteen sixty seven. This time Oliver Loving and
(09:10):
another crew member rode ahead. Comanches attacked the men, and
Loving later died from his injuries. The drive couldn't be stopped, though,
and they pushed on, collecting Loving's body on the return trip.
They carried his body home and gave him a proper burial.
Bows decided to retire from life on the trail in
eighteen sixty nine. Initially, he planned to settle in Colorado,
(09:31):
but Goodnight talked him into purchasing a farm in Weatherford,
Texas instead. Bo's agreed. Good Night visited his friend whenever
he passed through Parker County. Census data shows that Bos
and his new wife, Angelina settled into a farming life
and raised their children there. Every now and then, Bows
reunited with his fellow cowboys and friends. He lived a
(09:52):
good life and passed away on January fourth of nineteen
twenty nine at his sister's house in Austin, Texas. His
family returned his Bo to Weatherford and buried him in
the Greenwood Cemetery. Charles good Night more in the loss
by making sure Bo's could never be forgotten. He paid
for a monument to mark his friend's grave. Women had
(10:19):
few opportunities in the nineteenth century. The law prohibited women
from inheriting or owning property. In many of the Eastern States,
jobs were limited for single women. The most common forms
of employment were teachers and governesses, and neither paid enough
to live on. Others turned to sex work. The only
financial security women had was to marry well. Marriage presented
(10:41):
another set of problems, though many had to choose between
financial security and physical and mental well being. And although
the West was just as male dominated as the East,
if a woman had a little money and a lot
of tenacity and luck, she just might have a few
more options, including purchasing land, and such was the case
for Elizabeth with Ellen Johnson, her parents Thomas Jefferson Johnson
(11:03):
and Catherine welcomed her as their second child in eighteen forty.
After Elizabeth, the couple would have five more children together.
They moved from town to town to follow her father's
teaching jobs, before settling in Bear Creek, Texas. Now. Elizabeth's
father believed in giving his children a solid education, and
Lizzie and her siblings went to the Johnson Institute for
(11:24):
their basic education. There's no evidence suggesting that the Johnsons
had any affiliation with the institute of the same name, though. Lizzie,
as she'd come to be known, earned her degree from
the Chapel Hill Female College in eighteen fifty nine, and
she followed in her father's footsteps becoming a teacher. She
worked at the Johnson Institute before founding a primary school
in Austin, and then more teaching jobs followed after that.
(11:47):
She taught at the Lockhart Pleasant Hill School, the Parsons Seminary,
and the Oak Grove Academy. Lizzie eventually bought property in
eighteen seventy three, choosing to teach classes on the first
floor of her two story home. In addition to teaching,
she wrote and submitted stories to popular magazines and kept
books for local ranchers, and because of her interactions with them,
(12:08):
Lizzie learned how profitable cattle ranching could actually be. Her
investment in a cattle company earned her a nice profit.
She took the money and bought land and more cattle,
registering her brand on June first of eighteen seventy one.
Seven years later, in eighteen seventy eight, she received a
grant for the one hundred and sixty acres, which allowed
her to run her business without consulting the men in
(12:30):
her life. Lizzie married Hezekiel George Williams on June eighth
of eighteen seventy nine. Hez, as his friends and family
called him, had been a widower with children in a
reverse role. He might have been looking for financial support,
but Lizzie knew enough to protect her hard earned money.
Hez signed a prenup agreement before their wedding. He and
(12:51):
Lizzie kept their business and their money separate. Hez didn't
share in his wife's business sense, and Lizzie often loaned
him money, although she was clear that he had to
pay her back. While there were other female ranchers out there,
Lizzie might have been the first to participate in a
cattle drive. She made the two month journey up the
Chisholm Trail several times, earning her the title of the
(13:12):
Cattle Queen of Texas. Now and then, Hez would join
his wife on the trip. Ever, the entrepreneur, Lizzie branched
into real estate after that, purchasing land and ranches in
several counties. At one point, she even owned the Brugerhoff Building,
which had been a temporary home to the Supreme Court.
Her husband's lack of financial finesse, though, caused a couple
(13:33):
plenty of problems. During a negotiation with Cuba over cattle,
Hez was actually taken hostage. Lizzie paid the fifty thousand
dollars ransom to rescue her husband. In eighteen ninety six,
she bought her husband's cattle business for twenty grand. Whatever
storms the couple weathered, though, it was clear to everyone
how much they loved each other, and when Hez passed
(13:53):
away in nineteen fourteen, Lizzie became a recluse. After that,
she moved to an apartment in Austin. Who met her
there believed that she was poor. Imagine their surprise after
her death on October ninth of nineteen twenty four, when
Lizzie's heirs learned that she still owned several properties and
distributed on each of those properties, they found diamonds, other
(14:14):
expensive jewelry, and other valuables. Her total worth came to
nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Her family buried
her next to Hez in the Oakwood Cemetery. Lizzie, the
cattle Queen of Texas, proved that even in the earliest
days of the West, women could still break the glass ceiling.
(14:38):
To this day, we are fascinated with the American West,
and for good reason. There's no shortage of stories and
interesting details. From bowler hats and stetsons to how cowboys
got their name, there is always an interesting detail or two.
The Gold Rush and the westward expansion during the mid
eighteen hundreds brought on a new problem though, feeding all
those settlers. While we think of cattle, sheep became a
(15:01):
necessary commodity and provided food and wool. The favored sheep
were Marinos, a breed that originated in Spain. The Germans
crossbred the marino with a Saxon sheep and brought this
new breed to Australia. Basque herders from Spain traveled to Australia,
bought sheep, and then sailed to the American West. And
while we think of cowboys on horses, to herd cattle
(15:23):
sheep were a bit different. For that cowboys used dogs.
Eastern settlers often used English shepherds, border Collies and other
collie breeds, but the Basque herders brought rough and rugged
dogs with them that were a cross between English herding breeds,
and these new dogs took on a lot of responsibilities too.
They herded the sheep, provided companionship, and sometimes even served
(15:46):
as guard dogs. Of course, the herding dogs from Great
Britain inner bread with the newcomers, creating a new breed. Frequently,
these new dogs sported merril coat colors and were sometimes
born without a tail or a short bob. Their intelligence,
their bravery, and their strong work ethic caught everyone's attention.
Native Americans revered the dogs, calling them ghost Eye for
(16:07):
their pale blue eyes. Shaggy and powerful. The dog's endurance
and loyalty made them a favorite for tending sheep and
companionship during long months on the trail. Although this new
breed had been created in America, Western settlers knew them
as the little herding dogs from Australia. In the following decades,
the breed's courage and agility made them favorites at rodeos
(16:28):
and as circus performers. The Australian shepherd began in the
Old West and is as American as the cowboy. Keeping
a thousand head of cattle or sheep from wandering off
was hard work, though dogs helped, but the real change
came in the early eighteen seventies. On October twenty seventh
of eighteen seventy three, Joseph Gliddon, a farmer in Illinois,
(16:49):
changed life for the cowboy when he applied for a
patent on his own version of the barbed wire fence.
His take improved the design by twisting two strands instead
of one. As you might imagine, a single strand of
wire was no match for a longhorn steer intent on
grazing a green patch of grass on the other side
of a fence. Ranchers needed something more than just stronger wire,
(17:11):
though they needed something spiky. But the barbed single strand
version had a devastating effect on cattle and bison. It
turned out that neither animal could see the single strand
very well, and they frequently became ensnared, unable to free
themselves bow they died of starvation, thirst one, or infection
that mustard told cheap and counted. Through this brief sponsor,
(17:31):
farmers and ranchers across the nation found the improved version
of barbed wire indispensable for keeping livestock from roaming off
or eating certain crops. The fence was great news for
farmers and ranchers, but not the cowboy driving cattle to
the railroads. Those fences blocked off the land that they
had once driven their cattle across, and now there were
fewer cowboys at that time to handle these more complicated drives.
(17:55):
In a way, barbed wire did exactly what it promised
to do to keep boundaries secure, but in the process
it put an end to one of the ideals that
made the West so wild to begin with, proving once
again that progress isn't always a friend to folklore. The
(18:17):
cowboy is a central figure of wild West folklore, so
I hope you enjoyed today's journey through some of those tales.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Hollywood has created quite a few notable wild West characters.
One of The most recognizable is the Lone Ranger. Children
across America tuned in to watch the popular TV show
featuring a masked white man on a white horse, riding
wrongs and serving justice alongside his Native American sidekick Tonto.
Few know that the character is inspired by a real
(19:01):
Old West hero, Bass Reeves. Despite being one of the
most accomplished lawmen of the time, Bass's story has been
largely overlooked by mainstream history books. Born into slavery in
Crawford County, Arkansas, in eighteen thirty eight, he was just
eight years old when State Legislator William S. Reeves moved
to Grayson County, Texas and took Bass, his parents, and
(19:23):
other enslaved workers with him. Not long after they arrived,
Reeves gave Bass to his son, Colonel George R.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Reeves.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Over the years, Bass grew to be an enormous man,
standing at over six feet two inches tall. Sources say
he possessed good manners and an even better sense of humor.
But when the war broke out, George Reeves took Bass
with him when he went to fight for the Confederacy.
It was during the war that the two parted ways.
Some say Bass managed to escape. Other sources claim that
(19:52):
Bass and George got into a fight over a card
game and the argument turned violent. According to the story,
Bass seriously injured George, and either way, Bass fled to
Native American territory, where he couldn't be pursued. Over the years,
he lived among the Seminole and Creek tribes and learned
their languages and customs. With the Emancipation Proclamation, Bass could
(20:15):
leave the tribes and return to the United States and
to Arkansas. In eighteen sixty three, he settled down and
became a farmer. A year later, he married Nellie Jenny,
and the two started a family, eventually having five girls
and five boys. To supplement the family income, Bass occasionally
worked for the US Deputy Marshals. Fate had something exciting
(20:35):
in store for Bass. In eighteen seventy five, Isaac Parker,
the newly appointed judge of the Western District of Arkansas,
was looking for a US marshal to bring law and
order to the lawless Indian territory. Parker was known as
the Hanging Judge and was famous for his tough stance
on crime and his determination to bring order to the
wild West. Parker appointed U. S. Marshal James f fakein
(20:59):
to up approximately two hundred deputies. Fagan learned that Bass
could speak several different languages and that he had a
solid knowledge of the area. Bass Reeves was clearly an
unmatched asset and was hired in short order. Fagan appointed
Bass as a deputy U. S. Marshal, making him the
first African American to hold the position. Bass was a
(21:20):
skilled tracker and marksman, and he quickly gained a reputation
as a fearless lawman who always got his man. Throughout
his career, Bass arrested more than three thousand felons and
was credited with killing fourteen outlaws in self defense. Bass
was ingenius. He created clever disguises, using everything from a
preacher's frock to farmer's overalls to blend in with his
(21:42):
surroundings and catch his targets off guard. One of Bass's
most famous cases involved taking down the notorious outlaw Bob Doser,
who had been terrorizing the Oklahoma territory for years. Bass
spent months tracking Doser, known for his sharpshooting ability and
his talent for eluding the law, but Bass finally caught
(22:03):
up with him and in an epic shootout killed Dojer,
ending the outlaw's reign of terror. Bassue cut an imposing
figure on a large white stallion and dressed sharp, with
a pair of cold pistols at his hips. Adept at
shooting from his right or his left hand, bass was
a quick draw and usually hit his mark. Bassa's exploits
became legendary in his own time, and he inspired countless
(22:26):
dime novels and tall tales, but his legacy goes beyond
his feats as a lawman. Basa's story is a testament
to his resilience and determination during one of the most
challenging periods in American history. Bass's life also serves as
a reminder that history is often shaped by the stories
that are told and retold. Today, the story of bass
(22:47):
Reeves is finally being rediscovered and rightfully celebrated.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Grimm and Maud Presents The Wild West was executive produced
by me Aaron Manky and hosted by Aaron Mankey and
Alexandra Steed. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo,
with research by Alexandra Steed, Sam Alberty, Cassandra de Alba,
and Harry Marx. Fact Checking was performed by Jamie Vargas,
with sensitivity reading by Stacy Parshall Jensen. Production assistance was
(23:14):
provided by Josh Stain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
To learn more about this and other shows from Grim
and Mild and iHeartRadio, visit Grimandmild dot com
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.