Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-01-13

his deeds. his life and his habits Much
Of the fiction written around cowboy
characters has been pretty awful, but
on the other hand some OF America S
greatest writer's and artists have found
the cowboy worthy OF their attention.
Charles NJ Russell and Frederick
Remington made themselves immortal
with their pictures of the COW country.
Owen Wister,s immortal novel, The
Virginian, is probably the finest novel
with the COW country background In
efforts Of Zane Grey are terrible, but
his novels about cowboys and their
cattle sold by the millions The cow
boys make love TO the sheriff's daugh-
ter and foil the rIlStlerS on q thousand
movie screens every week, and the
customers always come back for more.
When movie records OF 1888 are tailed,
Gene Autry, cowboy crooner. will be
among the first 10 boxoffice favoriteS,
For years after the first cattle and
horses were brought TO America they
were allowed to roam wild. The Mexi-
cans had so many animals they saw
no need for branding them or collect
ing them IN herds. They could not see
the day in the future when every steer
would be valuable for Its meat A little
more than century ago the region
that Is now the state of Texas began
to attract more and more Medcans
to the cattle business. few men
learned the trick of roping steers and
branding them and to carry on their
work they developed the cowboy cos
tune which was the ancestor of the
one we know today broad hat to
keep out the sun and rain, leather
breeches to protect their legs from the
brush, the high-heeled boots which
made for safety in the saddle, and so
on Gradually more and more Ameri-
cans crossed the border and mingled
with the MexicanS They were from
tierSmen who knew how TO ride and
shoot. but 1t was from the Mexicans
that they learned the trade OF cowboy
and 1t was from him that they took
their costume. The costume Of the
American cowboy varies according TO
region and cowboys from Montana did
not dress exactly like those Of other
states. but basically the costume was
the same
Finest Folk Music
The music of the western cowboy
has been called the finest folk music
developed in America and 1t comes as
a direct result of the loneliness OF the
cowboys life. Night herding and other
cowboy chores are lonely Jobs, and
when he finished singing all the songs
he knew he would often spend the
long night hours making up verses. It
was under such conditions that such
moody melodies as Poor Lonesome
Cowboy" came into being. but there
we're also gay songs Of good times In
town. Cowboy heroes such as the
fabulous Billy Venero" became the
subjects of many ballads-the whole ]
picture Of cowboy life is TO be found I
in the music of the western ranges.
There are cowboys who win tell you
that the early day cowhands invented
the square dance, but students Of the
American folk dances say that the
square dance went west with the set
tiers. The cowboys did make it their !
OWN by changing the calls TO suit |
themselves, and In the west the square |
dance became faster and much livelier |
than it ever was In the effete east. |
When New England fisher folk dance |
The square dance, one Of their calls |
goes like this:
Dig for an oyster, delYe for a clam; |
Take them all home in an old tin can"
In the west that same call was /
changed to-:
Dig for the oyster, dive for the clans;
Dive for the sardines and take the
whole can"
The cowboys knew nothing about /
he fishing business Of New England, /
lut they did know about Sardines,
which were a common item in the
.oW camp diet.