Dakota Cowboy: My Life in the Old Days (Bison Book S)

Ike Blasingame was a Texas cowboy working for the Matador Land and Cattle Company when the company expanded its operations in 1904 and leased just-opened range land along the Moreau River in South Dakota south of today's Mobridge. Blasingame was among the cowboys sent along with 3,000 head of cattle to this new area, and this being 1904 both men and beasts went the modern way - by train. Evarts (no longer extant) was the shipping point. For the next 10 years or so Blasingame punched cattle for the Matador, and this is his account of that experience, dictated to his wife who wrote it all down, many years after the fact. Blasingame relates his story in a leisurely narrative style. His memory was obviously good - at least that's the impression given with many names given and events told as if they happened yesterday. There are the usual stories about bad weather, stampeding cattle, mean horses (and useful cowponies), branding, shy cowboys around the ladies, and the often dull times rounding up cattle or driving them to the railhead one finds in memoirs like this, but Blasingame keeps things lively and interesting. The Matador had a big spread in Canada, and sometimes Blasingame was sent there on his cowboy duties, but he was always glad to return to Dakota. When the company began closing their leases he bought a ranch on his old stomping grounds and ranched there with his wife and kids until the Dust Bowl troubles forced him to move to California, where he continued his ranching ways with an outfit there. Lovers of the Old West and the lives of the cowboys who worked the range will enjoy this book a lot.

Of all the cowboy memoirs, this is one of the best. Ernest "Ike" Blasingame was barely twenty when he went from Texas to South Dakota in 1904 to cowboy for the Matador Land and Cattle Company on rangeland leased from the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. His account of that experience covers the next 7-8 years, and it's a well-told story full of memorable incidents, cowmen, and horses. There's an excellent balance between informative explanations of the work of cowboys on the ranges and amusing anecdotes, accounts of mishaps and accidents, and nicely drawn descriptions of personalities and behavior revealing depth of character (or lack of it) among his colleagues. The roll of the seasons and the extremes of weather are well described, including the fatal winter of 1906-07. Indians also figure prominently in the narrative, and you can get a good understanding of the cattle industry itself in the years before the West was transformed by homesteading settlers and small farmers. Demon rum has a role to play in the fortunes and misadventures of these men, and there are insights into the social history of the all-male, bachelor work force who performed the hard labor of working cattle. Remembered and told 50 years later (the book was first published in 1958), Blasingame tells his story as though it happened yesterday. It is full of youthful enthusiasm and wide-eyed enjoyment of his work and his growing reputation as a fine young bronc rider, taming the company's unbroken horses and winning the respect of the men he works for, who quickly trust him to rep for the Matador at roundups on other ranges. It's not clear how much of the writing is really Blasingame's. He gives credit to his wife "who wrote this while I talked." And it may well be she to whom we owe the credit for this lucid, well-organized, vividly described memoir. At any rate, as a joint project, it provides a wealth of information and entertainment for anyone interested in the real West of working cowboys. It's a classic. And thanks to the University of Nebraska Press for keeping it in print.

Well-told stories of cowboy life in the Dakotas and Canada at the turn of the century. Highly recommended. A joy to read. A great plain-speaking, direct style. Lots of dry humor. Left me wishing I could spend more time with "Wild Ike." Overall, it is a bronc-buster's view of a slice a history - the arrival of cattle herds on a large South Dakota reservation, the heyday of the cattle business there, and finally the demise of free range ranching in that area and the arrival of the homesteader. I was a little concerned that it would be the story of cowboy life 20 years after the end of the cowboy era. But there are no pickup trucks or ATVs in this narrative, just cattle and horses, cowboys and Indians. His profiles of dozens of horses (woven into the narrative) would be worthwhile even without the other stories. (Here's a tip - there is a fold-out map on the last page. I figured that out when I got to the last page, but you will be happy to have the map as you read.)

I am the son of Ike Blasingame the author. This is not a fiction book. Every event and place are true. On the map all the creeks and places are in their correct places as well as the tributaries which run into the Moreau River, and Missouri River. There are 3 million acres of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation leased by the Matador Land & Cattle Co. of Texas who then sub leased to 10 other New Mexico and Texas cattle ranches, all having seperate brands, (like L7, Turkey Track, and DZ). Chief Sitting Bull died in 1899 but Ike Blasingame bought horse from Sitting Bull's brothers, One Bull and Lone Bull.Ray Blasingame - Paisley, OR

Dakota Cowboy is an excellent and authentic depiction of the turn-of-the-century livestock industry. The text is well constructed and provides the reader a true sense of time and space. Every facet of running cattle on the vast Dakota range is documented in full. The description of corporate structure, reliance on horses, theories and general management practices, and other pertinant characteristics of day to day duties make for facinating reading. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the practice of ranching, past, present, or future.