Cowboy Life
On the Trail of the Working Cowboy in Northeast New Mexico
"There is no better place to learn the values of discipline, patience and hard work than from the back of a horse or in a branding pen, from pitching hay or facing down ones fears in a rodeo arena."
Max Evans, Making A Hand: Growing up Cowboy in New Mexico
The cowboy lifestyle has been glorified in the movies for decades - Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Wallace Beery, Jimmy Stewart... bygone times. Not in Northeastern New Mexico! Here working cowboys continue the legacy of working the land and protecting it for future generations.
Riding the Santa Fe Trail (Photo by Mike Stauffer)
In our age of concern for sustaining the land and finding renewable energy resources, much can be learned from the ranchers of Northeast New Mexico. The modern day cowboy was raised with a tradition for honoring the land and maintaining its balance. Good stewardship has kept these families on the land - and will for years to come.
Travelers can experience the lifestyle of the twenty-first century American cowboy at many locations throughout the seven counties that comprise Northeast New Mexico. From Harding County where residents claim there are more cows than people to the vast ranches of Colfax County, one can sense the spirit that tamed the Wild West.
HISTORY
The Homestead Act of 1862 and the Spanish Land Grants throughout New Mexico offered pioneers the opportunity to begin a new life in the wild west. With the building of the railroads across America in the 1880s, the great cattle boom was on, bringing about the development of cow towns throughout the west, including Northeast New Mexico. At this time, cattle trails began between Texas and Oklahoma driving the cattle to the northern slaughter houses in Colorado, Kansas and Illinois. Bypassing the still turbulent land of the recently ended Civil War, these trails would circumvent the war-torn area directly north of Texas and Oklahoma and take a westerly start into New Mexico and then north to their destinations. These ran straight through Northeast New Mexico, establishing the cattle business throughout this area.
Nothing was easy in the pioneer days. The lands were originally Indian lands, and the Plains and Pueblo Indians still defended their lands. The comancheros became part of the mix, They were primarily New Mexico hispanic traders who made their living by trading with the nomadic plains tribes. They traded manufactured goods (tools and cloth), flour, tobacco and other essential staple goods for meat, furs, and other bounties the land had to offer. They also helped work cattle on a seasonal basis.
Vaqueros (Spanish for cowboys) were the working cowboys of the area. They were gifted with horse wrangling skills. They brought horses up from Mexico, many with Spanish bloodlines. Ranches raised Spanish Corriente cattle as well as Texas longhorn and other standard American cattle. All this created a unique culture which still thrives today.
