The Old But Good Cowboy Days

Back in the 1800s and early 1900s,  Erwin E. Smith was busy taking pictures of the daily life of a cowboy. This pictures would later be treasured as some of the most accurate cowboy pictures because they showed how cowboys really were and what they did in their daily life.
In his collection, his pictures show the varied jobs the cowboys did. It was not always that easy, sometimes it was a hard job. Some of the managed cattle, others worked as range bosses to the wrangler. And the bronco buster to the line rider, the cook to the cutting horse. The goal for his pictures was to capture the rugged realities and the romantic life they lived on the open range.
One of this pictures from his collection, is a picture of a boss in a horse. I like this picture because it actually shows how the cowboys did have a boss. This pictures show how cowboys really were.
Hollywood's portrayal  is a little bit different from what cowboys were really like in the 1800s and early 1900s. Hollywood's series in television called "Gunsmoke" was about cowboys and the open range. It had some things that were true but there were things left out. Also, today we think that cowboys are just men with round hats, boots, a gun, cowboy pants and a horse. We imagine them at a bar living a romantic life. But the truth is that is only partially true. In Erwin E. Smith's collection, we can see that they had not-so-easy jobs. They did have their boots, horse, hats and gun. But they also had struggles with the jobs. So thanks Erwin, for taking those pictures and permitting us see the reality of how cowboys really were in the late 1800s and 1900s!

http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php?asn=LC-S59-078&mcat=9&scat=28