Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History

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Ride ‘Em Cowboy

The Water Works Station in the Groundwater Discovery Adventure
Cowboys at the Spade Ranch, ca. 1930, located northeast of Ellsworth, NE.

Sponsored by Hastings College, Pershing Orthodontics, KHAS-TV, Trade West & Yellow Book

In the Ride ‘Em Cowboy exhibit, located in the East Gallery, venture back in time to the Nebraska Territory as cowboys drove cattle north from Texas to graze the grasslands of what would become Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. Gather round the campfire and listen to old cowboy songs. Peer inside their tent and chuckwagon to see what life was like on the trail.

Cowboys are often portrayed as white but many cowboys were Mexican, African American and Native American. Pictured here is Nebraska cowboy Maurice Brown, whose father was African American and mother was Native American. Custer County, ca. 1890.

As homesteaders moved west, so did the cowboys and their cattle. Fences started going up and ranching began. Life was different now and the cowboys had to adjust. Learn why they began to brand their cattle and what the brands meant.

Discover how cowboys became cowboys and what they wore and why. Saddle up in the kids corral and practice lassoing a sawhorse cow. Don’t get mixed up with the outlaws in the Law & Disorder area or you could end up in jail.

The exhibit was designed by Museum staff and built with the help of from the community. Students from Jim Hannon’s Advance Carpentry class from Hastings High School built the chuckwagon, sitting cubes and saddle mounts. Angela Graham of Graham Gallery mounted the posters and pictures. Chuck Guildner is sharing 30 of his black and white photographs of modern cowboys from Nebraska. David Dirks from Custom Pack is lending his mounted longhorn steer head. The exhibit will be on display through January 13, 2008 in the East Gallery.

Location: Main Level