Old, but still an interesting reading.
"Although dirty, stinky, dangerous and exhausting, cattle drives just might have been as exciting as they are portrayed in Western films. For a teenager on his first drive, it could have been the most exciting thing he'd ever done! Nevertheless, work on a cattle drive entailed many hours in the saddle, few hours of restless sleep (as I discussed in my last post, and exhausting, possibly dangerous work chasing and rescuing strays. On most cattle drives there was one cowboy to every 250 cattle, which required the cowboy to be vigilant at all times, all for $30 USD to $40 USD per month pay. The cowboy in charge of the remuda was paid $25 USD a month. The cook was paid between $50 USD and $75 USD per month depending on the size of the cattle drive and experience. The trail boss was paid between $100 USD and $150 USD a month and was well worth the money.
The cook was the first cowboy to rise so he could prepare breakfast (bacon, beans, biscuits and coffee) for the guards who would relieve the night guards while the rest of the cowboys ate their breakfast and prepared for the day. When breakfast was ready, the Cookie, or Old Lady (not a very nice term, but one I've seen often in history books) shouted, "Bacon in the pan, coffee in the pot!" Cowboys were up before dawn to break down the camp, put out the campfire, pack the wagon, choose their horses and prepare themselves before the cattle started moving. They generally slept in a circle around the fire near the chuck wagon. The first ones up were the cowboys replacing the most recent night guard. Night guard lasted two hours, so the relief crew would eat fast so the night guards could come in and get their own breakfast before starting their day.
The cowboys would roll their blankets up and pack them in the chuckwagon. The bed roll was sometimes referred to as a Flea Trap, according to Barnard's Story of the Great American West. Blankets were generally quilted wool and a second or third blanket was used to lie on the ground and protect the cowboy from the cold and creepy critters. The ground blanket was an oil cloth. An oil cloth was a strip of tightly-woven cotton threads coated a few times with linseed oil that would harden to produce a sturdy, hard cloth. The blankets and other personal items were rolled up inside the oil cloth, which was tied at both ends then stacked with the other bed rolls in the chuckwagon. (The chuckwagon was invented by cattle baron Charles Goodnight and will be discussed in another blog post--it deserves a post of its own, as do cattle barons and cattle trails.)…"
Full article here
link
Hope you enjoy!
Amicalement
Armand