Spur Marks
- February 10, 2025
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- Jan Swan Wood
Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life
My grandsons were playing on the floor, with the middle one, a preteen, being the bull and the
youngest being the bull rider. They got pretty wild before going their separate ways, accompanied by
plenty of laughter. It made me think of a story my Dad told about his Dad as a boy, and I shared it with
them.
His Dad, Bill, born in 1900, was raised on the plains of eastern Colorado, adjacent to the old cattle
trails that went from Texas to Colorado, Wyoming and Montana with vast herds. As a little boy, there
were still cattle trailed past, accompanied by the cowboys who drove them. It was always a big time when the herds went by as there would be a big supper cooked as a combined effort between the chuckwagon cook and young Bill’s Mother. Besides the good visit and meals, the biggest bonus for the ranch was the cow chips left on the bed ground by the cattle herds. Those were pure gold, as the plains were treeless. In time they would get dried out and be gathered up for fuel for the cook stoves and heating stoves in turn.
That crop of chips each season would be gathered up and stacked like wood when dried. Considering
some of the herds were upwards of 1500-2000 head, the supply was immense.
The cowboys were mostly young, single guys and were all fond of the little kids at the Swan Ranch,
particularly little Bill. He was only about three or four when they pooled their money and bought him
some spurs. They were real spurs with good rowels, just small enough for his little feet. Bill’s favorite
cowboy friend was a wild bronc rider named Bud Will. After tying a towel surcingle around his chest,
Bill would get on and Bud would buck and beller and little Bill would try hard to ride this “bronc” and
got very good at it. He’d sit straight up and spur him and Bud would buck harder. The other cowboys
would cheer him on and then take their turn.
Many years later, after Bill was a grown man himself, he was neighbors with Bud Will, who ranched
nearby when his cowboying days were over. They traded work back and forth and spent a lot of time
together and were great friends. By this time, Bill was the guy who could ride any horse in the pen and do a day’s work on it as well. Those early bronc rides on Bud had started him off right.
Bill had gone to Bud’s to help with some work, and when they came in for supper, Bud stripped his shirt off to wash up at the basin. It was the first time Bill had ever seen the older man with his shirt off.
On Bud’s ribs were scars, just little gouges, from arm pit to his waistline. Bill asked him what had
happened to cause those scars. Bud reminded him of those little spurs the cowboys had given him and the “bronc” rides that he’d had on Bud and the others. Of course, Bill remembered fondly. He said that Bud grinned and said that the rowels on those little spurs were pretty sharp and that those scars were from them.
Bill never forgot those great cowboys who had an influence on him from early on, but Bud Will was still his favorite, and the one who carried the marks to show his dedication to starting a child out right.
Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life
About Jan Swan Wood
Jan was raised on a ranch in far western South Dakota. She grew up horseback working all descriptions of cattle, plus sheep and horses. After leaving home she pursued a post-graduate study of cowboying and dayworking in Nebraska, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota....