Tomorrow, Fort Worth's Sid Richardson Museum kicks off a six-month celebration of The Lonesome Dove Reunion and Trail.
The event focuses on Larry McMurtry's novel and the movie (the celebrity studded dinner's sold out, y'all) but the exhibit explores the 19th-century American West through iconic paintings and bronzees by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, a cowboy's 1868 cattle drive diary, and materials from Lonesome Dove production archives.
Of course, we're here to remind you that TWO CHAPTERS in The Gruene Cowboy serve up first-hand accounts of the death of Oliver Loving, upon which the death of cowboy Gus McRae is based.
Cheaper than a trip to Dallas. Download the book on Kindle or, order online.
Come Jan. 1, the State of Texas will allow licensed firearm owners to “openly carry” guns. However, in 1872 the State of Texas had other ideas. Cowboys entering many frontier towns like Dodge City were already required to check their guns with the marshal. Cowboy C.W. Ackermann of San Antonio remembered the year Texas followed suit: "A law was passed which prohibited men from concealed arms. In 1874 horse thieves and highway robbers were so bad something had to be done. The ranchmen formed an organization known as the 'Stock Association' to rid the country of these marauders. I was one of the fifty deputies elected. After a year's time, we had Bexar County clear of robbers."
Garland and Rowlett, Texas were savaged by F-4 tornadoes yesterday. Gruene cowboys were familiar with the vagaries of bad weather. Many lost their lives, possessions and livestock to cyclones, lightning, high winds and the resulting stampedes. Wrote G.H. Mohle of Lockhart: “When we reached the Republican River a cyclone struck us, turned our wagon over, and scattered things generally. Mr. Evans had a large tent. It went up in the air and we saw it no more.”
Our sources at the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, founded by The Gruene Cowboy's original editor, J. Marvin Hunter, say tourists are walking in and asking for the book! You also can find us at Hunter's Junction and Cotton-Eyed Joe in Gruene, and at Opa's German store in New Braunfels. There's always good old Amazon.com ... which is running Christmas specials on our price.
Sorry, there are no accounts of cowboy Thanksgivings in our book. You'll just have to be grateful you aren’t eating out of the back of a chuckwagon! Take a look at CBS’ video the rules of cowboy cooking.
Not much is written about black cowboys in The Gruene Cowboy. Only one is remembered favorably because he rode hundreds of miles to return his dead master’s body to the family. The white Gruene cowboys sometimes alluded to African Americans in their stories, but these sons of the Civil War were people of their times. RIP to the man who brought back to life the black men who carved as much trail as the white cowboys. Read the article.
Did you know San Angelo State Park offers guided tours of its large herd of longhorns, or as Gruene cowboys called them, ‘beeves?’ Read more...