"TV COWBOYS ARE PHONY

That's what this pioneer woman, who lived in Canada’: not—so-wild wesfr l"'5 9° SUY 950"‘ “'19

gIln-slinging hnmbres on the tiny screen. She reveals what they were really

like and for the first time explains why cowboy songs are traditionally so melancholy

Early couztzays worked hard tending oottle, someh

ACK in the early 30's when Tom Lynch. one or the best-known early drovers oi the west, was trailing a iirst big herd oi cattle,

3,000 head, lrom south or the border to the Bar U ranch, so miles to the southwest ol calgary, AlIa., he hired two extra cowboys at Fort ncheod to help him. when they reached iourne ‘s end there was no turuier need or tnue exua hands. so Fred timson, then manager oi the Bar U. looked around In! some work which would justily his keeping them.

“Go down to the brush and cut out some poles." he told one ol the newcomers.

“What horse will l take?"

"Horse? You don't need a horse to cut poles." protested Stimson.

“Well," declared the cowboy ilatly. “II it’; a job 1 can't do on horseback 1 won‘! do it at all." And that was considered quite a reasonable attitude to take in those days.

Just a lew years ago Bill Livingstone, a cowpuncher whose tiietime had been spent working on ranches in southern Alberta. surveyed modern ranching. He saw nothing of cheer lor the cowboy iii the suture, and gloomiiy concluded, “It's got so now that all the riding a person has to do, he can do better atoot." so, with this harsh commentary, he caught up his horse and vanished lroni the range into the mountains to soothe his outraged soul with prospecting.

These two incidents indimte the decline or the cowboy iron-i the status or skiued speciahst, as I knew him, to that of general practitioner today. Time was when he lived his hie literally in the saddle.

resorted to their fists but didn't live by the gun. Here o gwup does some lmmdirig on Alberta much in me.

by HUGHENA McCORQUODALE

In a typical rv western, hero out uzith villain Clark wiuoirns along o deserted srrr

television, are loath to relinquish that cherished picture or the v-ester cowboy on his taitbtul paint pony, topping a ridge, silhouetted solitary eminence against a western sky or dashing i~ooti'n'. hooL'.:' down the ooulee. hut it is several deades since a picture had much likenes m reality. r .

Today, it you are looking tor a cowboy at work. you will like find him busy iencing. hauling hay, running a mower, tnclar-plow: welding machinery, working summer-lallow—slmost anything It riding. There are about two months during the spring mlving period when he is pretty constanuy in the saddle. but tor the rest or the time. aside troin such emergencies as blimrds. his riding duties a-e intermittent and rarely extend beyond a lew days. it is unlikely in: he even owns or aims in own a pony or his own, but he does usua have a jalopy or mail truck to take him around—or he may eve. own a car better than his employers,

Today’: experienced cowboy is undoubtedly more versatile this his predecessor. He has to be a combination el rancher-larmer mcchanic to meet modei-ii requirements. He would be classilied more properly as a ranch hand.

Al the same time, the cowboys seen by children on telerrsio.-. today bear little resemblance to those uf the old Canadian west. roe two TV cowboy shows 1 like best are linuihide and Wagon Tram wh are quite believable because they ,depict working cowhan otherwise, what with lighting hostile lndians or incomin- homesteadeis; shooting each other irombehind rocks or in gunplz) is somesaleon,.w. eowboysseeirtto have no time atall to pursue Lhe:

disliiounttrig to eat and sleep or to give first-aid to some criuel:.ia_—~v~Hz.l«t13de—of»Iending cattle. — H

u-ouhle. Fouowers or western lore, nourished, of cnursfli by movies and

By contrast to all this violence, the much settlement 0! waster:

no siarsweeuy IEAGAZINE, mrril 2:. me] I

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