Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Day The Cowboys Quit




The Day the Cowboys Quit is the title of a western novel by the late Elmer Kelton. The story, which I read many years ago and enjoyed very much, is set against the backdrop of the Great Canadian River Cowboy Strike of 1883. Despite its name, the Canadian River is a tributary of the Arkansas River. At 906 miles long, it originates in Colorado and continues through New Mexico, across the Texas Panhandle and most of Oklahoma. The cowboy strike mainly took place in the Texas Panhandle.

For twenty years after the Civil War, open-range cattle ranching thrived on the Great Plains. The ranches were mostly family owned and operated, and everyone was on a first name basis. Then, with the inroads of progress, things began to change. Railroads made cattle more profitable and there was a never-ending demand for beef in the big cities back east. Corporations and syndicates were formed with an eye on the profits to be made from cattle ranching. They began buying up the one-horse operations and combining them into massive holdings. But when the corporations moved in, the human touch went out the window, and therein began the problem.


The cowboy’s job was hard and the small owner recognized this, so the hands were often treated as family and given extra privileges. Usually, they were allotted a whole string of horses to work with. And the longer they stayed with a particular outfit, the better the horses they received. As an extra bonus of the job, it was common practice for a cowboy to claim a few mavericks for himself and slap his brand on them. If he worked long and hard enough, he could accumulate a herd and start his own outfit. In other words, the old ways gave the cowboy plenty of room for advancement, if he was ambitious enough.

When the syndicates moved in, everything changed. In most cases, the cowhands never met their new bosses, who remained some faceless entities in an office back east. The new owners decided it was better for their bottom line to claim all unbranded cattle for themselves. They also put restrictions on the use of ranch horses and each cowhand was limited to the use of two horses, and those had to be left in the corral when the day’s work was done. To makes matters worse, the corporate owners decided that their men couldn’t carry firearms or weapons of any kind, play cards or gamble on anything, nor were they allowed to drink alcohol during the terms of their employment. Wow. Wonder what they expected the hired hands to do in their leisure time.

In the spring of 1883, the cowboys had had enough and decided to go on strike. Men from the biggest ranches along the Canadian called a meeting and put together the following proclamation:

We, the undersigned cowboys of Canadian River, do by these presents agree to bind ourselves into the following obligations, viz:

First: that we will not work for less than $50 per mo. And we furthermore agree no one shall work for less than $50 per mo. after 31st of Mch.

Second: Good cooks shall also receive $50 per month.

Third: Any one running an outfit shall not work for less than $75 per mo.

Any one violating the above obligations shall suffer the consequences. Those not having funds to pay board after March 31 will be provided for for 30 days at Tascosa.

The twenty-four who signed the proclamation were: Thos. Harris, Roy Griffin, J.W. Peacock, J.L. Howard, W.D. Gaton, B.G. Brown, W.B. Boring, D.W. Peepler, Jas. Jones, C.M. Hullett, A.F. Martin, Harry Ingerton, J.A. Marrs, Jim Miller, Henry Stoffard, Wm. T. Kerr, Bud Davis, T.D. Holliday, C.F. Goddard, E.E. Watkins, C.B. Thompson, G.F. Nickell, Juan A Gomes, J.L. Grissom.

Five copies of this declaration were made, signed, and delivered to the LIT, the LX, the LS, the LE, and the T Anchor, which were the large ranches along the river. And so the strike began. The original organizers, led by Tom Harris of the LS, established a small strike fund and attempted, with limited success, to persuade all the cowboys in the area of the five ranches to honor the strike. Reports on the number of cowhands involved at any given time ranged from thirty to three hundred and thirty-five. The number changed as men joined and deserted the walkout.

The out-of-work cowboys spent much of their time in the aforementioned Tascosa, northwest of Amarillo. At the time, it was a mecca for cowboys where any sin could be indulged. In the daytime, Tascosa was a thriving center for trade and supply. But at night, Frenchy McCormick and her husband Mickey ruled the gambling parlors and saloons. Consequently, the "fund" the cowboys had set aside to tide them over during the strike soon ran out of money. An interesting side note: during all of this, Pat Garrett was the sheriff of Tascosa.


Ranchers found an effective means of dealing with the strikers without using force. Officials at the T-Anchor and the LE fired striking employees on the spot. The LS and the LIT offered a slight increase in wages and fired workers if they refused the offer. Owners and managers continued with roundup plans by hiring replacement workers at temporarily increased wages. Many of the replacement workers were in fact strikers who asked to return to work. After two and a half months the strike was so weakened that the May roundup occurred without incident. The last press mention of the strike was in the Dodge City Times on May 10.

After the strike began, the Panhandle was plagued with an outbreak of rustling that many blamed on frustrated strikers. Other types of mischief, such as random burning of personal property, went on the rise, too.

For whatever the reasons, poor organization or lack of enthusiasm, the strike finally fizzled out of its own accord. Many of the strikers went back to their old outfits, but others drifted and found work at the less regulated outfits that still existed farther to the south. Some historians claim that the strike reflected the international labor movement. But most look on it as nothing more than an interesting incident that happened in our history. Whichever way you choose to look at it, The Great Canadian River Cowboy Strike of 1883 barely left a scratch on either the cowboys’ image or the cattle industry.

Happy reading and writing, everyone!
Devon

17 comments:

Sharla Rae said...

Great blog! I had never heard this info. I'm not surprised cowboys rebeled against the restrictions. They were footloose guys to begin with in a job that had always fit their mindset. Take away the freedom, and you no longer have a "real" cowboy. :)

Caroline Clemmons said...

Devon, although I love Elmer Kelton, I hadn't read this book and didn't know about the book. I am from Lubbock, an hour south of Amarillo, so I should have known this part of the area's history. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Fascinating stuff, Devon! Can you just imagine working that hard six days a week, sometimes around the clock, for $50 or less a month?

I wonder if this represents an early "Occupy" movement (Occupy the Plains, maybe?). Did the cowboys refer to the corporate ranchers as "Big Cattle?" ;-)

Kirsten Lynn said...

Great information, Devon! I've never heard of this, and I'll definitely have to check out the book. It's hard to imagine a cowboy having to strike to get at least $50 for all the work they did/do. And it is sad how the large corporations moved in, and kept men from bettering their situation.

Thanks so much for the post!

Devon Matthews said...

The strict rules of behavior was what didn't make sense to me. Those hard working cowboys had to cut loose somehow. Nice to see you again, Sharla!

Devon Matthews said...

Caroline, I read that book back in the '80's and it's one of my favorites by him. As always, when I run across something I don't know about, I go digging to see if it's true. The strike did happen, but there's not a whole lot of information out there about it.

Devon Matthews said...

LOL! Kathleen. It is strange to think about the ranches belonging to syndicates back then, and cowboys striking for better pay. It runs contrary to the image, doesn't it? I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. In some ways, anyway. :)

Devon Matthews said...

Hi Kirsten! The book is a fictionalized account, the strike experienced through the pov of one old cowhand, but it's an excellent piece of writing. Mr.Kelton's books are meticulous in their attention to facts and details. I'm happy I was able to dig up some information about our favorite era that hasn't been hashed over too much. :)

Jacquie Rogers said...

Devon, I didn't know about this, either. I did know about the syndicates, but not the strike. Apparently they had no shortage of workers, so no need to negotiate.

But only two horses per cowhand? Seems drastic. I always heard they didn't work horses more than 2 or 3 hours a day, so that would pencil out to 5 horses per cowhand a day, not 2. Sounds like the horses should've gone on strike.

Ellen O'Connell said...

Wow. Count me as another one who never heard of this. I hope those with ambitions did move on and find other ways to get ahead rather than eke out an existence under the restricted terms. Think about it. There were no IRAs for cowboys. Work till you die or are too crippled to do it and then what happens?

Meg said...

I'm with Jacquie, the horses should have gone on strike! LOL - great review of this virtually unknown history and book, Devon!!

Lyn Horner said...

Devon, that strike is news to me too. Seems like corporations never change. Their God is the bottom line. They didn't give a hoot about the cowboys or the horses.

Thanks for filling us in about a little known incident in Old West history.

Devon Matthews said...

Jacquie, I agree. I'm sure the horse allowance was a major gripe. And just think, after they worked, they had to turn the horses back in, in a manner of speaking. No riding into town or over to see their best gal.

Devon Matthews said...

It's been a looong time since I read Elmer Kelton's book, but I seem to recall that was one of the issues the cowboy in the story (the hero) was dealing with. He wasn't a young man any longer and the work was getting tougher on him. He was thinking about what he was going to do for the rest of his life. Remember, most cowboys were in their early twenties. Wonder what they all did when they turned thirty. ;)

Devon Matthews said...

Meg, I'm so glad now that I brought this to attention. I hadn't thought about it in years. I was wracking my brain for a blog topic the other night and the strike occurred to me. So, I went digging into my reference books and found what facts I could on it. Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Devon Matthews said...

Lyn, when I was writing this up, the thing about the corporations jumped out at me. Some things just never change, do they. There's a lot of good fodder here for story material, if we think about it. ;)

Teresa Reasor said...

Loved the post Devon. I loved learning about the history of the west from you and the other ladies. Keep it coming.
Teresa R.