Live each day with courage.
Take pride in your work.
Always finish what you start.
Do what has to be done.
Be tough, but fair.
When you make a promise, keep it.
Ride for the brand.
Talk less and say more.
Remember that some things aren't for sale.
Know where to draw the line.
"Cowboy Ethics:What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West" James P Owen
They were simple, direct men.
They believed in things like liberty and minding their own business.
When the first cowboys were herding longhorns up the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Kansas they were a pretty tough lot, but they had to be. It was a rough era in our history. There was no room for nuance or no time for luxury.
Out of the lives of these cowboys have come all sorts of stories and legends, Some true and some fiction. But the most authentic and dependable evidence of what the cowboys really were has come from the artists who pictured them in their true environment, risking their lives in stampedes, freezing or sweating, under the stars, by lonely campfires, rowdying in saloons, fighting, branding and whooping it up around the chuck wagons.
Cowboy Safety is linked to the way things used to be.
A great source has been "The Virginian" by Owen Wister. This the quintessential novel about equality and about the idea of Wyoming.
David Sneed, Chief Strategist of the Medicine Bow Safety Institute, won an essay contest in high school for "What Makes A Man the Best?" The essay was based on the main character of the Virginian who is never named.
"There's a stranger now. Who is that black man?"
"Well - he's from Virginia, and he ain't allowin' he's black."
"He's a tenderfoot, I suppose?"
"Ha, ha, ha! That's rich too!" and so the simple partner explained a great deal about the Virginian to Molly Wood.
Wyoming is the Cowboy State. It is also the Equality State. A black cowboy could come to Wyoming and be accepted as an equal. All was based on what a man could do.
We can learn a great deal about the Virginian as did Molly Wood.
If he were around today he would show us how to keep from getting hurt or killed and how to take care of things in the right way.
Cowboy Safety teaches some of the practices and beliefs of the Virginian.
From the journals of James Clyman. The original is owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The spelling and grammar has not been changed.The story is about a bear attack on Captain Jedediah Smith and the First Response actions that were taken.
Grissly did not hesitate a moment but sprung on the capt taking him by the head first pitcing sprawling on the earth he gave him a grab by the middle fortunately cathing by the ball pouch and Butcher Kife which he broke but breaking several of his ribs and cutting his head badly none of us having any sugical Knowledge what was to be done one Said come take hold and he wuld say why not you so it went around I asked Capt what was best he said one or 2 for water and if you have a needle and thread git it out and sew up my wounds around my head which was bleeding freely I got a pair of scissors and cut off his hair and then began my first Job of dessing wounds upon examination I the bear had taken nearly all his head in his capcious mouth close to his left eye on one side and clos to his right ear on the other and laid the skull bare to near the crown of the head leaving a white streak whare his teeth passed one of his ears was torn from his head out to the outer rim after stitching all the other wounds in the best way I was capabl and according to the captains directions the ear being the last I told him I could do nothing for his Eare 0 you must try to stich up some way or other said he then I put in my needle stiching it through and through and over and over laying the lacerated parts togather as nice as I could with my hands water was found in about ame mille when we all moved down and encamped the captain being able to mount his horse and ride to camp whare we pitched a tent the onley one we had and made him as comfortable as circumtances would permit this gave us a lisson on the charcter of the grissly Baare which we did not forget
Jedediah retained a power of decision and a clarity of mind which illustrated clearly why he was their captain.
If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him-speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents.I think if I worked for a man I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness."
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