Many people don't know that cowboys were a necessity to people and towns. The main thing they are known for is herding cattle but they did much more than that. Without cowboys, passengers of the S.S Sicamous and many other ships wouldn't have had food onboard for the chefs to cook so they could eat on their long journeys. The cowboys used special horse drawn wagons called ‘stagecoaches’ to bring the food, luggage and mail to ships and passengers. Cowboys would be awaiting the arrival of the S.S Sicamous and other ships to carry food and mail across the valleys and mountains, to drop them off in towns and to the townspeople. Many cowboys were young men in need of money.
While they were delivering cargo, they’d also do other jobs such as herding and sorting cattle, fixing fences, guarding livestock from predators, caring for horses, and even making repairs to some buildings. They often worked 20 hours a day. The average cowboy made between 25$-40$ a month. While they were working these long and tiring hours, they would only eat two meals a day. The first meal was breakfast and they ate in a stagecoach because there was no time to stop anywhere to eat. Their second meal would be dinner and they ate whatever they had packed in their horse's saddle bags.
In the very little free time the cowboys had, they’d do lots of different activities. Some of those activities included dog fighting, log rolling, ax throwing, wrestling, playing cards, and one of their favorites, horse racing. The cowboy life was not for the weak. When night rolled in, the cowboy would unravel a very large tarp and he would fold it in half down the middle. This would create a roughly, 6-7ft wide and a 7-9ft long bed for them to sleep on. To stay cool on hot working days, the cowboys would drink cold beverages and wear very light and breathable, cotton clothing. In many cases they would sleep outside in the cool desert of the Okanagan.
When cowboys embarked on long journeys, to kill time and relieve boredom, they would write songs and poems. Cowboy poetry grew from the stories they’d tell around a campfire or a bunkhouse. The art form of oral poetry dates even further back to the storytelling tradition of Irish and Scottish settlers. Singer and cowboy poet, Red Steagall, claims up until 1935 several cowboy poets published their work in books. Bruce Kiskaddon published several books on poetry. Some well known songs written by older cowboys include; Strawberry Roan by Tom Munch, and Home On The Range by Daniel Kelly.
If you were going to be driving a stagecoach back then, you'd need a team of horses. A good, solid horse cost about 150$. Nowadays a nice horse costs between 6500$-12,000$. when horses weren't pulling stagecoaches they were cared for in the livery yard by stable boys and ranch hands. To keep horses happy and healthy in the livery yard, they would've needed lots of other equipment known as ‘tack". Below, you can see how different the prices were for different pieces of tack and brushes.
brushes | $1.85-2.00 |
saddle | $9 |
horse harness | $50 |
stagecoach | $75 |
When highways were built in 1935, many cowboys went out of business due to the greyhound bus company. The first greyhound bus arrived in Penticton on a Kamloops-Oroville trip in 1931. The bus was a 21 seat GM with a Cadillac motor that picked up freight and passengers at McKeen's Drug store in the 100 block of Main St. The horses and stagecoaches were kings but the highways were god, and more than often the road ruled. Before going out of business, Hal Tweddle ran a stagecoach to Keremeos and Hedley from 1895 to 1910. The trip from Hedley to Keremeos took two days and the trip to Princeton took four days, one way. Buses were much faster than horses.
Aboriginal cowboys are not very well known even though they built a very important trail and bridge in Summerland that helped with delivering mail and luggage. This trail is known as the “Brigade Trail”. It's now a historical trail from 1849. It was firstly and mostly used by the First Nations for fur trading. But soon after it was used by all kinds of cowboys as a passage for delivering goods. Aboriginal cowboys had an event at rodeos called "relay races". A group of cowboys would line up on horseback without a saddle at the start of a race track and when they got the signal, they'd all take off. After one lap around the track, the cowboy had to get off one horse and jump to another as fast as they could. The first cowboys to complete 3 laps would win. These races still happen today during the Calgary stampede and other events.
While cowboys did work long hours, they also liked to have some fun and make the most of their free time. Penticton had a local rodeo grounds that cowboys used for rodeos and having fun. They did bull and bronc riding, horse racing, team roping, and even jumping. They always had a blast and would even win some trophies and other prizes to show it. The most famous and local cowboy was Kenny McLean. He brought home multiple trophies and even won a saddle for ‘world champion saddle bronc rider’.
The Spaniards discovered horses and cattle in 1493 when Christopher Columbus was on his second voyage when he landed colonists with horses and cattle on the island of Santo Domingo. Hernan Cortes sailed from Cuba, where the horses were discovered, to continental North America, in 1539 bringing the first horses with him. The conquest of Mexico began with these animals. The stray cattle and offspring on the Mexican range were called ‘mustang cattle’. The Mustang cattle were just as wild as any other animal on the range. Like deer, buffalo, and antelope, they were considered game animals. The wild cattle were hunted and caught by frontiersmen, and they could smell a man like any other animal. They did not mix with domesticated cattle because they carried the scent of men. When captured and kept in pens, the calves were very hard to domesticate. Out on the range the wild, sharp horned, and extremely dangerous bulls would often charge the man who had shot him.
Some frontiersmen who had dogs, would use them to flush the cattle out of the thickets, if the cattle headed into them. Once the dog drove the cow out, the man would rope and tie its feet. The cow would be tied neck to neck with an ox, who would then drag the cow to a holding pen. This technique was the nicer one. Some hunters would cut the knee tendon of the cow to disable it from running, being able to only walk or they would sew the eyelids of the cow closed so it couldn't wander off. These techniques seem cruel today but that's how it was done back then.
The Palmer-Miller expedition took place in 1858 and they were the first wagon train to pass through Kelowna. They were travelling from Walla Walla, Washington, to the BC interior using the Brigade trail. Palmer and Miller had nine wagons each pulled by a team of oxen. Every wagon was loaded with food, tools, and lots of other goods they wanted to sell to the miners in Cariboo, BC. During their expedition, they were faced with having to cross Okanagan lake. It took over 50 rafts to transport all their supplies. The horses and oxen they had with them needed to be taken around the east side trail of the lake. The trail was extremely rough on the wagons which led them to take apart the wagons and then rebuild them once they had reached the other side of the lake. The expedition didn't get better from here, only worse. They were advised to stop their journey when they reached Kamloops considering that the trail would only worsen the further north they went. Palmer and Miller decided to sell their supplies in Kamloops and even ended up selling their horses and oxen for 900$ a pair. A variety of stagecoaches were used on the expedition. Some held food, tools, and mail, while others carried a load of ten men and a driver. In the end, the sadly shortened expedition, went well and Palmer and Miller made lots of money.
To summarize, you can see how greatly different life was for the cowboys and even the towns during the 1900's. Life today is much more modernized than it was 100 years ago. While cowboys may hold a bad reputation for being gambling drunks, they were extremely important for hundreds of years and they certainly deserve some acknowledgement for their services to the towns and peoples. Horses and cattle played an important role in history as well.
(See the photos of various popular breeds of horses and cows)
If you are interested in further reading, see the blog post on the Bernard Express, a well known express company using horses, wagons, and stage coaches to move people and supplies throughout the |Province.
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