What Cowboys Read on the Trail

 

For a cowboy riding the open range in the  late nineteenth century, reading material was often as scarce as shade beneath a prairie sun. Still, when a man had a few quiet moments beside the chuck wagon or around a campfire, he might reach for a well-worn dime novel, a newspaper, or a small pocket Bible. Dime novels were especially popular, offering tales of gunfighters, scouts, outlaws, Indians, and larger-than-life frontier heroes. Some were wildly exaggerated, but they provided a welcome escape after long days spent in the saddle. Newspapers, when available, brought news from distant towns and cities--politics, cattle prices, railroad developments, crime and stories from the ever-expanding American West.

Not every cowboy was a devoted reader, and literacy varied considerably among working cowboys. those who did read might also carry  popular adventure stories, poetry, almanacs, or religious pamphlets. The Bible was a particularly practical companion, small enough to tuck into a saddlebag and meaningful to a man living a hard and sometimes dangerous life. Cowboys could also encounter Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Edgar Allan Poe, or popular American poets in inexpensive editions or through recitations around the fire. In fact, storytelling and reading often went hand in hand on the trail A cowboy who could remember a good poem, song, or story might entertain an entire crew during a quiet evening.

The picture of the cowboy as a rough, uneducated loner is therefore only part of the story. Many were young men with ordinary interests--curious about the world beyond the ranch, eager for news, and fond of a good adventure. When a book or newspaper made its way into camp, it might be passed from hand to hand until the pages were grimy and worn. For a few minutes beneath the vast Western sky, a tired rider could leave the cattle behind and travel somewhere else entirely--into a dime-novel adventure, a newspaper from back East, or the pages of a well-thumbed Bible. 

 

Sandra

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