"Whaddya
doin?"The
army scouts wanted to know, as Ed Schieffelin led his mule out
of the army post at Fort Yuma, Arizona Territory.
"Headin'
out fer some Prospectin," answered Ed, and
a soldier hurrumphed. "All yer'll ever find
in them hills," he said, "is yer tombstone."
But
Cowboy Ed found silver. Lots of silver. And before it played
out the silver mines would pay out a billion dollars at today's
value.
And
when it came time to stake out a town, to support the thriving
mines there was only one choice for a name: Tombstone. In the
years to follow more than 30,000 miners, thieves, gamblers,
gunfighters, merchants, shady ladies, and the like swarmed the
boom town. Including Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Doc Holliday,
Bat Masterson and the infamous Cowboys led by Old Man Clanton
and Curly Bill Brosius.
"Hands
up!"
The first cowboy to utter these immortal lines was
Old Bill Miner. From 1861 - 1911 Cowboy Bill robbed trains
and stagecoaches in the American and Canadian West.
In
1906 the old cowboy was sentenced to life. He told the Canadian
judge, "No jail can hold me, sir." Over the
next 4 years, Cowboy Bill, escaped 5 times.
After
shooting Jack Strawhorn, a well known bad cowboy, Wild Bill
Hickok bought a round for the bar, and the town band struck
up a tune. A hastily convened coroner's jury, took one look
at the dead cowboy and asserted, "Served him right,
and so we declare."
The
first competitors at the inaugural Calgary
Stampede (1912) were mostly working cowboys. American Cowboys
won most of the competitions, but the crowd favorite was a local
cowboy. Tom Three Persons got out of jail just hours before
riding the most notorious saddle bronc of the day, Cyclone,
to a standstill.
Cowboys
love poker. . . .and the reason old west cowboys called the
poker they played, "Faro" was because the most popular
playing cards used pictures of Egyptian Pharaohs for the face
cards.
In
the later part of the 19th century swarms of American Cowboys
went north following the shrinking cowboy frontier. And in Southern
Alberta the Montana Whiskey Traders established their headquarters
and aptly named it Fort Whoop-Up.
The
whiskey trade and Fort Whoop-Up were the reasons the Canadian
Mounties were formed in 1873. By the time the Mounties found
the Whiskey Traders stronghold, it was the late fall of 1874.
When
the Mounties pulled up in front of Fort Whoop-Up, Colonel Macleod
had the field artillery set up and he and his cowboy scout;
Jerry Potts, rode forth. Macleod and Potts stood in front of
the forts' walls and hurrahed the cowboys with their intention
to reduce Fort Whoopup to rubble.
No
response.
Finally
Potts rode up to the door and loudly knocked. To their surprise
a scraggly bearded Cowboy answered the door. The Cowboy invited
the Mounties to join him for supper, seems the Whiskey Traders
had no stomach fer a fight and had bailed out a few weeks before.
Most
men - including Texas Rangers - who could afford a
holster would have used this style in the early days
of the western frontier. Shown here with a Remington
36 cal. black powder pistol, with a 7 1/2" barrel.
Holster above is a left draw and can be worn on the
left hip, on the right for a cross draw or on the
right for a right handed "Twist" or "Cavalry"
or "Hickok" draw. Shown plain - no adornment
- in a deep saddle brown color. Our Holsters are Top
Quality - made for life-long use. We will custom make
to accommodate the make and calibre of your side arm.
Other colors available click
for more.
Our
knifes are premier quality, made from high
carbon steel and are built to last for generations.
We can custom make to anyone's taste or requirements.
E-mail your questions to:
Pictured
at right is one of our custom frontier knifes,
and giving this big functional knife a unique
look is the curved handle made from goat horn.
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