What did cowboys do for a living when they were too old for cowboyin’?
Mike Franklin
Poteet, Texas
In the early days, an older puncher might get a job as a chuckwagon cook—the second highest paying job on the drive, just under the trail boss. Others took jobs in town and, if one got lucky, found a pretty woman and settled down. I’ve known some who put in long service for an outfit and the ranch always found a way to keep them around, sort of like an old horse that’s been faithful that you put out to pasture.
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Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and the Wild West History Association’s vice president. His latest book is 2018’s Arizona Oddities: A Land of Anomalies and Tamales. Send your question, with your city/state of residence, to marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu or Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327.