The Florida Cowboy/cica 1870

[bubba]

"A correspondent of the Sandersville Georgia-Herald,reported some years later that these Florida cowboys were generally well mounted on nimble ponies with large water proof saddlebags filled with rations for themselves and feed for their horses,and all with the indispensable double-barrel shotgun or repeating rifles,and ammunition strapped across their shoulders.They are a sui generis class and recognized as soon as seen. The party often takes a wagon with supplies of corn,oats,the inevitable hominy or grits,coffee,flour and salt for the game they kill.By their nomadic life,they are fine riders and show themselves men of strong will and solid sense.They are pleasant and affable to strangers,but doubtless would prove rough customers if bad blood was raised."Jacob Summerlin:King of the Crackers;pg 66.

[_Keith]

"Cowboy culture is one trait shared by both North and South Louisiana. Cowboys in Louisiana may be British American, African American, Cajun, or Creole. Rodeos, trail rides, and the making of braided whips, horsehair ropes, and leather saddles flourish from Monroe to Cameron Parish, from Shreveport to Hammond. Since Louisiana's landscape does not include the vast rangelands of the American West, adaptations were needed in both North and South Louisiana. The marsh cowboys have made extra long reins to allow cowboys to stay out of the way of horses lunging through the mud. They learned how to put spurs on rubber boots and herd cattle by boat. Creole ponies successfully survived the heat and mosquitoes and could cope with the marsh with their small hooves. Cattle are wintered in the marshes but moved to higher ground during the summer to avoid mosquitoes in the marsh. Cattle drives continue, but eighteen-wheel trucks have taken the place of the horseback cowboy. North Louisiana, with its piney woods and thickets, also required special adaptations of cowboy lifestyle. Largely untended woods cattle required hardy cowboys that could round them up in thickets and swamps using Catahoula curs (Spitzer 1991). The commonality of the ranch and rodeo culture persists throughout Louisiana. Performance genres found in cowboy culture include reciting cowboy poetry, auctioneering in French or English, and singing cowboy ballads in clubs and at festivals."

mms://wm.lpb.org/swi/20070518cowboy.wmv

[DoomsDave]

Dang!

What an eye-opener that trip to Floridy was!

Won me a bet and a beer about the closing of the open range, which, in Florida, didn't happen until 1949.

YOWZA!

Florida was a tough place to make a living, unless you had a pipeline of money from outside.

Still is.

[amazondk]

Keith,

That is very intersting.  Since I was raised in cow country, North Central Montana, cowboys are close to my heart.  We have them here too.  Wherever they roam, they still are cowboys.

dk