Cattle Drives
Though the buffalo no longer offered a source of revenue for the townspeople, the cattle drives replaced the buffalo hunters. By the spring of 1876 the cattle trade had shifted west from Ellsworth and Wichita, Kansas, to Dodge City. As the Longhorn cattle from Texas were driven up the western branch of the Chisholm Trail to the railroad at Dodge City, the settlement was alive again. During the next 10 years, over 5 million head were driven on the trail into Dodge City.
The Drover
The Texas cattle herder is a character, the like of which can be found nowhere else on earth. Of course he is un learned and illiterate, with but few wants and meager ambition. His diet is principally navy plug and whisky and the occupation dearest to his heart is gambling. His dress consists of a flannel shirt with a handkerchief encircling his neck, butternut pants and a pair of long boots, in which are always the legs of his pants. His head is covered by a sombrero, which is a Mexican hat with a low crown and a brim of enormous dimensions. He generally wears a revolver on each side of his person, which he will use with as little hesitation on a man as on a wild animal. Such a character is dangerous and desperate and each one has generally 'killed his man.'
It was men of this class that composed the guerrilla bands like Quantrell's. There are good and honorable men among them, but the runaway boys and men who find it too hot for them even in Texas, join the cattle herders and constitute a large portion of them. They drink, swear, and fight, and life with them is a round of boisterous gayety and indulgence in sensual pleasures.
The Cattle Town
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The first herds of longhorns usually arrived by early June when the Kansas climate provided good grass and water for the cattle. Kansas cattle towns like Dodge City were resorts for the Texas drovers and cowboys. Their visits there might be equated to the modern vacation, and the cowboys and drovers usually let off steam when they reached them. It was only natural. After two or three months on the trail in dust or mud and with little sleep they delivered their herds of longhorns and were paid for their labor, usually in cash. Suddenly they felt free, uninhibited, and rich by cowboy standards, with anywhere from. $50 to $90 in accumulated wages.
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When Cowboys Came to Town By Lynne Hewes
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Cowboys during the l880s were fortunate that not all their time had to be spent on the trail. Once in a while, they got to come into town. In his book Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West, Christopher Knowlton says that a cowboy's first thought was to get clean once in town after a stint on the dusty trail. A boarding house, often just a simple dormitory with cots, offered a chance to shave and take a much-needed bath. Knowlton says that in such an establishment, cowboys "often encounter[ed] rows of bathtubs and sinks where communal toothbrushes hung on strings, alongside communal towels, hairbrushes, mirrors, and combs." The Dodge House, which opened in l873, advertised, "Sheets will be changed...once in six months-oftener if necessary...beds with or without bugs".
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After becoming "presentable," a cowboy would walk the streets of town, looking at merchandise in shops, stopping for a haircut, or even having his photograph taken. He would make some purchases: tobacco or thread, perhaps. But the next stop was almost always the local saloon.
A high-end saloon like the Varieties in Dodge City would have brass cuspidors for spitting tobacco and gaming tables and perhaps a dance floor. A shot of whisky usually costs fifty cents, while a quarter would buy a beer. And, yes, there were women: hurdy-gurdy girls were around to dance with—but nothing more. Prostitutes were available for between one to five dollars, although some charged more.
Knowlton says that Cowboy Teddy Blue recalled, "I suppose those things would shock a lot of respectable people. But we weren't respectable, and we didn't pretend to be".
There was gunplay, too, of course, but perhaps not as much as Hollywood movies lead us to think. According to Knowlton, "Most cowboys did not carry weapons at all....and most cowboys knew that wearing a six-shooter in a cattle town was an invitation to gunplay".
The important thing, instead, was to get to town, get cleaned up, and have a good time—then return to the cattle drive the next day.
A high-end saloon like the Varieties in Dodge City would have brass cuspidors for spitting tobacco and gaming tables and perhaps a dance floor. A shot of whisky usually costs fifty cents, while a quarter would buy a beer. And, yes, there were women: hurdy-gurdy girls were around to dance with—but nothing more. Prostitutes were available for between one to five dollars, although some charged more.
Knowlton says that Cowboy Teddy Blue recalled, "I suppose those things would shock a lot of respectable people. But we weren't respectable, and we didn't pretend to be".
There was gunplay, too, of course, but perhaps not as much as Hollywood movies lead us to think. According to Knowlton, "Most cowboys did not carry weapons at all....and most cowboys knew that wearing a six-shooter in a cattle town was an invitation to gunplay".
The important thing, instead, was to get to town, get cleaned up, and have a good time—then return to the cattle drive the next day.
Shave & HaircutBefore going into town, some cowboys might bathe or head straight for town, where for two bits they could- use a tub with hot water in the back of a barbershop. A shave and a haircut followed, and then the purchase of some new clothes to replace the frayed, dirty, and smelly ones worn on the trail.
Tonsorial Palace |
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Cleaning Out the Town
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The typical cowboy wears a white hat, high top boots, leather pants, a woolen shirt, a coat, and no vest. The average cowboy when riled up is a bad man to handle. He is armed to the teeth and when full of their favorite beverage they would dash through a town yelling like Comanche's. This is the call of "cleaning out a town."
General Store |
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Gambling
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The prominent saloons in Dodge City included the Alamo, Beatty and Kelley'S Alhambra, Mueller and Straeter's Old House, and the Longbranch, built in 1873 by Charles Bassett, Ford County's first sheriff, and A. J. Peacock. Nearly all the saloons in Dodge City offered gambling. The pattern of most cowboys arriving in Dodge City was similar. After cleaning up and buying new clothes, they were likely to seek some liquid refreshment in the saloons. Many played poker and visited the ladies of the night. But it is foolish to believe that all cowboys and drovers who came up the trails from Texas did all of these things. Certainly, there were some cowboys who matched this description, but most seem to have been honest men.
Saratoga |
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