The Cowboy Hall of Fame contains art work of
Indians
and southwest desert landscapes, displays of
rodeo stars' portraits and guns, and
portraits of
movie star cowboys. But where are the real
"famous" cowboys -- the ones who braved the winter
storms, the long days in the saddle, the
bad food, hard sleeping, and dangerous work with cattle and horses? Alas,
the illusionary cowboy culture has more appeal than the real
stories!
Check out the newly renamed and reorganized
National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum.
Movie star "cowboys and
cowgirls"
Life of real cowboys:
*66 percent made only one cattle drive (e.g., from Texas to Nebraska),
which often lasted 4 months at one time (often in the same set of clothing)
*the work was long, hard, dangerous, and paid little
* cowboys usually only owned their own saddles, but not the horses they
rode
* average age was 23 years
Source: PBS, The West, September 1996.
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Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 June 1996; last revised 21 December 2007.
Displays
of
guns
