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Show THE COWBOY: A PORTRAIT by Dr. Robert L. Poulson, Director of Animal Identification, Utah Department of Agriculture Just prior to and following the Civil War, America's vast western and southwestern regions were ideally suited to graze and fatten livestock for beef-hungry Easterners. Texas had thousands of wild longhoms, remnants of the Spanish Conquistadors' herds, which were free for the taking, by enterprising men on fast horses with long ropes. Trailing this beef to railheads in the midwest required tough, hard riders to handle the stock. A new profession was bom-THE AMERICAN COWBOY. How the term "cowboy" came into acceptable use is shrouded in legend and speculation, but "cowboy" is a title recipients are proud to be called. Perhaps the fact that in those early days of the West most of the profession were youthful, gave credibility to the title. Their average age was 24 years. |