Posted in Life in the Old West

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CIRCLE C RANCH

Do you know what a roundup is? Well, the simple definition is: an activity where you gather up the livestock (either cattle or horses) so you can brand them, count them, and sell them. In this post, I'll talk about branding the new calves.
On the Circle C, the cattle are usually rounded up in the spring, so the new calves can get branded. Ouch! First off, the ranch hands have to separate all those babies from their mothers. The calves don't like it much (and neither do the mama cows). There is so much noise you can't think straight. Cows mooing, calves bellowing. But it's exciting.

Once the calves for that day have been sorted out, the ranch hands rope the calves (their back legs) and drag them to the fire. Yep, a fire is going out in the open. Once the calf is being held down good and tight, a ranch hand takes the branding iron (a metal rod with our ranch's brand on the end: A "C" with a circle around it), makes sure it's good and hot from sitting in the fire, and then pushes the hot iron into the calf's backside.
It smells terrible, but it doesn't hurt the calf as much as I used to think. They've got thick hides.

Then, quick as a wink, that little calf is let up, and off he races--you wouldn't know he'd even been branded--back to his mama. But how he can tell which cow is HIS mother I've not figured out yet. When there are hundreds and hundreds of cows standing around bawling, they all look alike to me.

So, why go to all this trouble once--or maybe even twice--a year? A burned mark in the cow's hide is the only way to tell who it belongs to. There aren't any fences way out on the thousands of acres of rangeland, and sometimes all the ranchers' cattle get mixed in together. But that's OK. Come fall roundup, the ranchers sort everybody's cattle out and give them back.

Branding also discourages rustlers from being too brave. If somebody is caught with a cow, one look at the brand will let the sheriff know who the cow really belongs to. This also works well with horses. And since horse-stealing is a hanging offense, it keeps most horse thieves either honest or very, very careful about which horses they try to steal.

Here is a sample of some different types of branding irons and the "mark" they made when burned into livestock:

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Posted in Life in the Old West

I love to read Dime Novels! For one thing, they are full of excitement, Indian scalpings, captured settlers, adventurers, and all-around colorful places. The trouble is, most teachers and parents (like my mother) think Dime Novels are trashy. They don't contribute at all to kids' literary skills, so it's hard to get away with reading one. (Even though I tried to tell her that all sorts of adults and famous people read Dime novels . . . . like President Lincoln).

Mostly, my mother would prefer I read books like Robinson Crusoe and Little Women. I don't have anything against reading about a fellow marooned on a desert island, but he doesn't have anybody to talk to until his man Friday comes along. And I liked Little Women the first time I read it, but one time is definitely enough. (I told Mother that Louisa May Alcott wrote dime novels, but I don't think she believed me. But it's true!)

When I found one of Mitch's dime novels lying around, I snatched it up right away! I mean, with a title like Crack Skull Bob and an Indian fight on the cover, how can you go wrong? I sweet-talked Mitch into letting me read it, and when Mother saw me curled up on the settee, she just shook her head and sighed. I guess that means I can keep reading it. And a good thing, too! I was just getting to the part where the Indian was getting ready to scalp the settler, and I would have died if Mother had taken it away.

They call these paperback books "Dime Novels" because they cost a dime to buy. Mitch has a whole slew of them--he likes to read these kinds of books. Justin, he doesn't read anything but his law books and the newspaper. Chad . . . well, I don't think he likes to read at all. But Melinda and I? We both like Dime Novels.

But Mitch warned me not to ever, ever, ever take it to school. The schoolmaster will snatch it right out of my hands and tear it up in front of me. Then I'll probably get stuck writing a thousand sentences about only reading books that improve my mind. I want to read books that improve my imagination!

If you want to learn more about the famous Dime Novels of the late 1800s and early 1900s, go here: DIME NOVELS

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Posted in Life in the Old West

The Ten Commandments . . . Old West Style

1. There's just one Trail Boss . . . God.
2. Don't be hankering after other gods.
3. Watch yer mouth, partner!
4. Get yourself to Sunday meetings.
5. Honor yer ma and pa.
6. No killin' two-legged varmits. Let the law do it.
7. Don't be sparkin' another fella's gal.
8. Don't stick your brand on your neighbor's horses or cattle.
9. No tellin' tall tales or gossiping.
10. Don't hanker after another rancher's water, stock, or fancy spread.

~ loosely translated from Exodus 20 by Andi Carter

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Posted in Life in the Old West

It is 1856. You are poor, your husband has just died; or perhaps your wife has died, leaving you with many children. What do you do? Well, you put one or two of the kids up for adoption in the local newspaper's Want Ads!

Here are two actual want ads for little children from 1856--read and weep: (not the real photos)

WHO WANTS TO ADOPT A LITTLE BOY? -- A Widower, with six children, has a LITTLE BOY, 8 years old, that he would like some respectable person to ADOPT. Inquire of Mrs. Michell, No. 471 Houston-st, corner of the Bowery.

---

WANTED -- To ADOPT a lovely and interesting female INFANT, five months old. The mother is left a widow, and not able to support it. Apply at the Employment Society, No. 13 Bible House, for a week. Ask for Catharine.

Would you like to write a story to go with any of these want ads? If you do write a story about one (or both) of them, I'll post it. Give the child a name, and in your story make sure you tell what happens to the little boy or the little girl. How did he feel? Was the little boy scared? What's his name? Who adopted him? Was his new family kind? Or, what happened to the mother of the baby girl? Did she try to get her baby back when she found a job? Oh, there are so many possibilities! If you do write a story, e-mail it to me so I can post it.

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Posted in Life in the Old West

Take a good, long look at this dress. Can you see me wearing it to school? Do you think I wear overalls to school? I wish! The boys can wear overalls, but my mother would never let me step one foot off the ranch wearing anything but what's considered proper for young ladies and girls in 1880. So, yes, if you peeked into the window of our schoolhouse, there's a chance you would see me wearing this dress--or one just like it. In fact, if you want to see the kinds of dresses I have to wear to school, church, and other social events, click here:
CHILDREN'S FASHIONS
Which one do you like best? I reckon If I had to choose, I'd pick the green silk dress--but only for special occasions.

(photo courtesy Kent State University Museum)

And...it gets worse. By the time most girls reach the age of twelve or thirteen, they're wearing corsets--a tight-fitting, restricting undergarment, which is suppose to keep a girl's waist small and fashionable-looking (but in reality squishes all your insides so you can't breathe). Corsets are meant to be worn day and night! Some of my friends' mothers are dead set on making sure their daughters "fit in" with polite society by enduring this fashion burden. I'm thankful that my mother has enough sense to know that these corsets can't be healthy for young, growing bodies. The thought of wearing one makes me break out in a cold sweat. Here's a picture of a gathering of properly dressed young ladies. Look closely. I'm not here. I'm out riding...

You want to know what little boys wear? They wear dresses until they are five or six years old. Then they wear knickers, which are short pants that come just below the knee, and stockings. The stockings are held up under the pants at the waist. Oooh..doesn't sound very comfortable to me. If you scroll down to the bottom of the Children's Fashion page you clicked, you will see a fancy suit for a boy.

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