"National Day of the Cowboy"
Celebrated Saturday

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

The weather forecasters had promised it, but then, most of us fail to really believe them, when the begin predicting cooler temperatures in July. However, they "made good" on their promises and Saturday morning featured a pleasant break in the triple-digit temperatures of late, as the local National Day of the Cowboy unfolded on the grounds of M&F Western Products and Circle E Western Wear. "Just about anything you can imagine western, is here today," exclaimed one local resident, as she described Saturday's events.

Buggy rides, a bucking mechanical bull, and rides on the newly refurbished Butterfield Stage were just some of the activities provided by the local western manufacturer, in celebration of "the cowboy" and his contributions to American history.

 

Mickey Eddins, owner of the local western store and western manufacturing plant, purchased the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage, from local rancher, Theola Reed. Reed and her late husband, Ed, had used the stage in parades and exhibitions and she was on-hand Saturday to see the stage put back into use, even taking the first ride in the western conveyance. Local "muleskinner" Junior Gregg, hitched his matched pair of mules, Dolly Parton and Lorreta Lynn, to the stage and began offering rides to a long line of both youth and adult, wishing to make a historic journey around the parking lot.

Stagecoach rides were offered to the public from beneath "the sign of the horse," at Circle E Western Wear,
in observance of the National Day of the Cowboy, on Saturday.

Bill Hodge, an employee of M&F Western Products, had been given the challenge of getting Eddin's stagecoach fully restored. He had taken the stage to Elmer Richardson, in Bryson, Texas, owner of Bryson Trading Post, where Richardson began the operation of taking the stage apart and restoring each piece to orginal specifications. Hodge offered that the stage is a Abbott-Mathis Downing Concord Coach, and was used in delivering mail, cargo, and passengers on the Butterfield Route, in Texas, from 1858-1861. "The coach line was discontinued at the beginning of the Civil War, and though settlers on the Texas Prairie lamented its demise, the line was never restored, once the war was over," acknowledged Hodge. "The stage line had two routes, one originating in Memphis, Tennessee, and the other in St. Louis. The two lines converged at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and entered Texas at Colbert's Ferry, on the Red River, traveled across a portion of Texas and continued their routes to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.

 

Eddins' refurbished Butterfield Stagecoach, once carried mail, passengers, and cargo, along a line
from either Memphis, Tenn. or St. Louis, to California, as it traveled through a portion of North Texas.

Stage stations were approximately 20 miles apart and provided fresh horses and mules, meals for travelers and fresh water, along the route. In Texas, stations were located at such places as Sherman, Gainesville, Davidson, Jacksboro, Murphy, Fort Belknap, Clear Fork, Camp Cooper, Chimney Creek, Grape Creek, and on to Franklin City, which later became known as El Paso. The operation of the Butterfield State Line was a "boon" for frontier families who remained connected to their former homes and familes, by mail and the opportunity to travel back for visits. They also served as a means of areas promoting settlement on the Texas Prairie, as communities with access to stages were favored for settlement.

 

 

Local resident, Judy Jones, waves as she rides on the historic Butterfield Stage, at Saturday's
National Day of the Cowboy event.

Saturday's rides in the historic Butterfield Stage were popular, as well as the roping demonstrations, the rides in an Amish Buggy, and a doctor's buggy that provided rides.

 

This Doctor's Buggy was also available for rides, on Saturday.


Harold Deaton of Dike, front row right, gave rides to Judy and Debbie Deaton Tucker, as well as
Tucker's two children, in his Amish Buggy.


Deaton is shown here escorting Linda Eddins and two of her granddaughters on a historic buggy ride.

Several in the community tried their skills at riding the mechanical bull and "landed in the dirt," when they failed to make the eight-second ride.

 

 

This mechanical bull looked quite docile, until the power was turned-on at Saturday's tribute to the cowboy!

And, Paul Eddins drew quite "a crowd" when he mounted the bull
for his "historic" ride!

 

Hot dogs, burgers, and all the trimmings were provided by M&F Western Products, as well as a large sale on western items at the Circle E Western Store.

 

 

John Brodie Holland, of the local Bonanza Community, warms-up to try his skills at roping a
"dummy," at Saturday's Cowboy event.

Front Porch News salutes the Cowboy and his many, many contributions to our society!

 

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