Saturday, September 4, 1915. Fighting Carranza in Texas, and Cowboy Boots before the war.

 The headline was correct, at least in a fashion.  Mexican Sedicionistas, who were supporters of Carranza, had crossed into Texas in a raid.  Normally, we'd think of Carranza's men as Constitutionalists, but frankly in Mexico at the time that would imply a level of adherence to the law that would not be warranted.

This event focuses us on something that was soon to really matter. Carranza did not like the United States.  His troops were raiding over the border.  He had placed himself, however, in Mexico City, and Woodrow Wilson was moving towards recognizing him as the legitimate head of the country, even though the Convention of Aguascalientes had created a new government which was supported by Zapata and Villa.

I didn't run this on its anniversary,  back in August, but chances are that it was run in the Rawlins newspaper more than once.

Lex Anteinternet: Cowboy Boots: Title: An array of boots at the F.M. Light & Sons western-wear store in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Library of Congress photographs...

Rawlins Republican, August 1915.

This advertisement discusses something we addressed in an earlier post:

Well, like a lot of things, the boots changed as a result of a war.  World War One to be exact.

 Stretching leather, about 1915.

Because World War Two was such a colossal war, and because we tend to simply accept the line that the United States was the "arsenal of democracy" during the Great War, we have a pretty skewed concept of American production in the World War One time frame. Simply put, it was a mess.

Not only was the Army trying to raise a force, at breakneck speed (more rapidly by quite some measure than during World War Two) but it was trying to deploy it overnight.  It was also trying to equip it overnight.  The peacetime Army didn't have anywhere near the amount of stuff necessary to equip the huge Army that the US was trying to raise, equip, ship and deploy in 1917.

And this included leather goods.

The US didn't really even know what it needed in the way of leather goods, so it let out contracts for things like saddles and boots in absurdly large numbers.  There's a real reason that M1904 McClellan saddles are so common.  They made so darned many. Same with boots, the numbers made were astounding.  Absurd, even.

With that sort of demand going on for leather goods, the supply became very strained, and cowboy boots were the victims of that. The leather for high topped boots just wasn't there. So, as a wartime measure, bootmakers introduced the "stubbie" or "pee wee" boot, which is what most people, at least those who aren't cowboys, wear today.

 Tom Mix, 1919.  Mix was an actor, not a cowboy by trade, although the World War One veteran did buy a ranch in Wyoming after the war and he actually ranched here.  Anyhow, actors make notoriously bad examples of what cowboys actual wore, and this is no exception.  The hat is far too large for anything outside of Texas (where sugarloaf sombreros were really large), the pistols are M1873 cavalry models, which had 7" barrels and which were not favored by cowboys, who instead favorted the 5" artillery model. the pants are way too tight. The boots, moreover, are peewees. The heels, however, are just right for the era, and not uncommon amongst working cowhands now.

That was the wartime solution.  And it impacted how the boots were actually worn. Prior to WWI cowboys normally tucked their trouser in their boots, and they still sometimes will, as the photo posted above shows.  This was the routine habit, although sometimes they'd pull their pants down over their boots.  Having worn boots both ways while riding, if I'm going to ride for a long time, I'll tuck them in.  More comfortable, for the long haul.

But you really can't do that very well with pee wees, and cowboys who had to buy new boots during the war were embarrassed by the economy of leather and how it looked, so they took to pulling their pants down over their boots.  Better to wear out your pants and get them dirty than to look like a boofador.

Traditional boots do not go on as easy as peewees.  And you'll want some high socks if you wear them also.  My Olathe traditional mule hide cowboy boots.

There's a lot more to that post, but we can see here, in 1915, you could get handmade cowboy boots in Rawlins, and they were going to be real cowboy boots.  You can still get them, and still get them handmade, but probably not in Rawlins.

Figures at the dedication of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain Park in Colorado was dedicated.

Last edition:

Friday, September 3, 1915. Ojo de Agua

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Sedicionistas, Texas