March 31, 1883
On this day in 1883, cowboys from five historic Texas Panhandle ranches hung up their spurs and went on strike. It was both brief and unsuccessful and some say, signaled the passing of an era.
Texas cowboys on the range, 1880s
Hands from the LIT, the LX, LS, LE and the T-Anchor came together to draw up demands for higher pay; no less than $50 for cowboys and no less than $75 for boss hands. Good cooks were encouraged to not work for less than $50 a month, as well.
Top hands could earn $40 a month but working cowboys made on average between $25 and $30 a month, in the neighborhood a dollar a day or less. That put them well behind the average national agricultural wage at about $1.12, or $34 a month. But averages are difficult to rely on since wages were often figured “with board,” or without and included a various number of working days per year.
Bunkhouse meant “with board”
The strikers actually represented a small portion of a large work force. Depending on whose side you were on, the estimate of that number ranged from 30 to as many as 300. Panhandle ranches, however, often stretched to a thousand acres, thousands of cattle and employed hundreds of men.
Cowboys often stayed in do-it-yourself line shacks
Ostensibly the job action was about wages but at its heart was the changing relationship between ranch hands and ranch owners. Of the five large spreads that employed the strike organizers, all but the T-Anchor were owned by cattle companies made up of Bostonians, Kansas bankers and foreign investor, primarily from Great Britain.
Early Texas ranch houses weren’t like “Big Valley.”
Prior to the 1880s, the Texas cattle business was based on open-range grazing. The early ranches were founded and generally owned by tough Texans with long histories in the industry and the state. By the 1870s, however, many large tracts of land were being controlled by corporate cattle companies. Free range had mostly disappeared and foreign investors with little or no experience in the cattle business had come to dominate the Panhandle.
Historically, low wages for cowboys were offset by allowing them to brand mavericks and orphans and graze them on the employer’s property. Accustomed to unstructured working conditions, the hands also resented novice owners rule-making. In addition to prohibiting rebranding, they often limited the number of ranch horses each man could use and attempted to ban bunkhouse gambling, “the imbibing of strong drink” and the carrying of firearms.
The cowboy cause suffered from bad PR. Newspapers as far away as Denver overwhelmingly favored the cattle companies. Despite the strikers insistence that theirs was a legal and peaceful protest, often fabricated threats of fence burning, cattle killings and attacks on ranch managers gave the strikers a black eye.
Dime novelists of the late 19th century were the first to sprinkle fairy dust on the American West. The reality of a cowboy’s life of back-breaking work, long hours and bad food was completely overlooked in favor of the often fictionalized exploits of the likes of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock and the glorification of a variety of outlaws. (Left, Ned Buntline dime novel)
The term “cowboy” actually entered the nation’s lexicon from England where simply put, it described an adolescent who herded the cattle. During the American Revolution, it became a pejorative title for fighters who 
opposed independence. It continued to have negative connotations as late as Tombstone’s heyday, applying only to gangs of rustlers and nemeses of the Earp brothers. (Back row, from left, John Behan, Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp. front, from left “Old Man” Clanton and Billy Clanton)
Ultimately, the ranch owners had the upper hand. The T-Anchor and LE summarily fired strikers, while the LIT and the LS offered slight increases in pay and fired any hand that refused. By mid-May it was over, strikers in many cases were replaced by cowboys migrating up from south Texas where ranching had fallen on hard times.
Many of the top hands drifted out of state, while others took jobs in the growing number of settled communities, changing forever a mythical segment of frontier life. What was left behind, however, was the enduring image of the rugged independent individual that has become the nation’s symbol of the American West.
The National Ranching Heritage Center, 3121 Fourth St., Lubbock, Texas, is home to nearly 50 authentic and historic buildings including homesteads, windmills, ranch houses, a train depot, schoolhouse and blacksmith shop.. The 27-acre outdoor museum and park, located on the Texas Tech campus was established in 1969 by the Ranching Heritage Association.
The restored and relocated structures are placed in chronological order from the 1700s to the 1900s. A mile and a half of paved pathways are wheelchair accessible. The free self-guided tour is open to the public daily from 10 to 5 but is temporarily closed due to the current shut down. For more information and schedule of reopening go to depts.ttu.edu/nrhc. e-mail ranchhc@ttu.edu, call (806) 742-0498 or write he National Ranching Heritage Center. 3121 Fourth St., Lubbock, Texas 79409.
© Text Only – 2020 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
*Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.