What did the cowboys drink? The saloon is the American dream! Cowboys didn't carry guns
December 24, 2015
Would you like to go back for a day to those times when stern men talked about a matter of honor, women were proud and daring, and the real fun was not nightclubs, but country dances, shooting at tin cans and chasing the most malicious enemy - the Indian?
Why not? Without stereo systems, light music and computer games, people knew how to have fun for real! Now it’s not like that: now pathos, glamor and extended body parts “rule”. Therefore, if your birthday is in the warm season, and you want open heartfelt fun, here is a good option for wild west parties!
In order not to miss anything important, I suggest the following scenario:
1. Season and meeting time.
The best time of the year for a Cowboy Party is summer. Meeting time - 12-14.00. The costumes must be prepared in advance, so the invitees will only have to put on an outfit and arrive on time. Please note: the most suitable day of the week is Saturday. Surely your party will turn into a daily marathon of entertainment, because Sunday will serve as an excellent healer and “sleeping” before Monday!
2. Invitations.
Be creative, but don't overdo it. Draw holiday attributes (cowboy hats, boots, funny Indian) or print out a coloring book for kids with matching characters. 
For the base of the invitation, use scrapbooking paper (in country colors) or plain kraft paper. 
Write the text with a linner (capillary pen) or colored felt-tip pens.
Meet the guests, forcing them to introduce themselves “at gunpoint”. You can come up with a password, something like: "I am Walker, Texas Ranger!", And to the Indians: "I am the leader of the Cheyenne tribe!".
3. Take care about costumes!
Naturally, in order for everything to look natural in the spirit of the Wild West, everyone must be ready both externally and internally. That is to be cheerful, loud and always ready to draw a pistol from a holster or an arrow from a quiver.
More about images.
cowboy man: jeans, sew on fringed overlays, wide leather belt, plaid shirt, neckerchief, cowboy hat. Cowboy-style leather boots are desirable. If they are not there, pick up shoes with an elongated toe: what if the boots hid under wide jeans?
Also, you can add characters such as sheriff(how without a servant of the law?) 
And bandit(who, of course, is wanted for a hefty reward!). 
Cowgirl: almost everything is the same: jeans or denim shorts (skirt), a plaid shirt (or a blouse with a deep neckline and ruffles), cowboy boots, wide leather bracelets, a holster with a weapon or a rough belt, makeup “under natural” (but red is allowed pomade). Hair is loose, or braided in two pigtails. A cowboy hat will also be in place. 
If girl "not a cowboy", replace some elements with a similar country style: a knee-length or floor-length skirt, a thin blouse (light or colorful), you can wear a denim vest or jacket. The hairstyle is the same. 
Indians: these costumes are more difficult to construct. The ideal option is to rent it. You can try to make an outfit from scraps of brown fabric (better for suede) and any material at hand (feathers, bright jewelry, paints ...). Perhaps there are sandals with high laces. Pay due attention to makeup! This is half of the image. 
In case the invitees suddenly do not find some small but important attributes, stock up and be ready to hand them at the entrance. 
To better get used to the role, invite guests to watch several films - classics of the appropriate theme (westerns): "Buffalo Bill and the Indians", "Pancho Villa", "The Long Way", "The Lone Ranger", "Once Upon a Time in the Wild West", "Good bad, evil...
4. Venue and decoration.
The ideal place for a Wild West party is a dacha (in cowboy terms: “family ranch”). Rest will be noisy and loud.
You will have to work hard, since the area that needs to be prepared is very decent. A room in a country house, or an equipped tent should be decorated with red flags, wild flowers, spikelets should be placed in vases from a vine, bright feathers can be added. If you can set up a retro bar style counter - a great party highlight! Hang retro curtains. Cover the furniture with tablecloths in a characteristic color: red and white cage or retro flowers. Bales of hay will look harmonious both in the yard and near the festive table (these are not European-style repairs for you!). 
Hang around the territory something like a lasso, cowboy hats, horseshoes, put rows of cans or beer bottles on the fence. 
At the entrance to the yard, hang a large Wanted poster with a photo of one of the guests (find out who will choose the role of a bandit). Be sure to indicate the amount of the reward (preferably in kopecks: so many zeros, but real, if the Hero demands the entire amount). Organize a couple of beautiful targets (it's easy to make from Styrofoam and paint it), as well as arrange cacti around the yard (of course, from Styrofoam, draw needles with a marker - it will be very funny!). On the street, conditionally divide the territory into half cowboys and Indians. Cowboys - a haystack and wooden benches. Indians - wigwam and fire. All this can also be easily built according to a simple scheme. 
Arrange colorful retro posters.
5. Music.
Entertainment is necessary and important. First of all, it's loud music. Remember how much space is occupied by waving arms and skipping, which they call dance! By the way, it would not hurt to watch a couple of videos before the holiday, it would be great if many people pick up the songs, the dances, and the temper of the scorchers! Suitable tracks will be hits from: Ann Murray, Gene Watson, George Strait, selective songs by Madonna, Pink, as well as tracks from the mentioned films!
6. Entertainment.
Contests are talked about a few hours after the start of the celebration: let the audience adapt and get used to the roles. If we talk about two warring "groups" (cowboys and Indians), who today decided to reconcile for the sake of a common friend (birthday boy), then the contests must be chosen correctly. Cowboys and Indians must compete, otherwise the peculiarity of such an unusual company will be lost. I offer the following options:
Competition "Who is more". Two teams are thrown into tin cans. The team with the most coins in the bank wins.
Competition "In the apple". The cowboys take turns firing five shots with children's pistols, the Indians with a bow (it's possible that the bow will be a problem - stock up on darts!). Each to their own target. The one with the most "wounds" wins. If both teams hit (all five times), then the one who hit closer to the center of the target.
Candle Burning Competition. Two people (one from each team) from the same distance must extinguish three candles with a water pistol.
Contest "Take me, horse." Each team has a horse and a rider (boy and girl respectively). It's simple: run to the fence and back. The faster horse wins. In the second option, two participants must saddle a wooden toy horse. (26-2)
Competition "In search of treasures". Give two teams a poorly drawn map to find the treasure. Whoever thinks faster - takes the treasure. In the role of treasure - a bottle of good alcohol.
The team with the most points gets a gift. Let it be something edible, otherwise it’s hard to please 5-6 people at once. If one person is awarded, it may be a modern cowboy-style hat, a leather belt, or a flask.
Be sure to think about what songs you can sing around the evening fire. Or maybe your company likes scary or just interesting stories...
7. Menu and drinks.
Cowboys, like Indians, are people with an appetite. Save light snacks for a French-style party. Coarsely chopped meat, barbecue, baked chicken thighs, shish kebab, balyki, ham will be relevant here. Stews, pilaf with vegetables in large containers are also suitable. 
Do not be afraid to add spice to dishes - today it is appropriate! Drinks also dictate the mandatory availability of choice. Cowboys go great with tequila, whiskey, beer and (yes!) milk! The latter is generally their native drink. But the Indians have their favorite "drink of the gods" from cocoa beans and various spices. In short, cook cocoa for them, not a single feast was held by the Indians without it.
Finally. Don't forget to take lots of photos. They are sure to be exclusive. 
Let your friends appreciate your work, and you will have a great time knocking your heels on the wooden floor and shouting out that “if there is no meat in the roast beef, it’s not roast beef” or “The sheriff’s Indians don’t care about problems”! 
The image of a typical American cowboy is completely imposed on us by Western films: a middle-aged man with a slight unshaven on horseback, a wide-brimmed hat on his head, a cigarette in his teeth, tight jeans on his legs, a frayed leather jacket over a plaid shirt, high-heeled boots with spurs and , of course, a lasso and a revolver hanging from a belt.
But the reality can be quite different from the generally accepted template of a typical cowboy. We present 5 interesting and unexpected facts that will complement, and maybe even turn your idea of cowboys upside down.
Cowboys didn't carry guns
In any movie about the Wild West, there will be a scene when the crowd fills up in a local bar, and each of them has one or even several revolvers hanging from his belt. Soon, as a result of the resulting conflict, two cowboys leave the bar to duel.
But this scene hardly has anything to do with reality. If only because a cowboy is a peaceful profession and its representatives, in contrast to the generally accepted opinion, did not have a violent temper, more suitable for bandits. In addition to the fact that there was no need to carry a weapon, it was quite expensive to have a revolver or rifle with you - cartridges in those days cost a lot of money.
The only situation when cowboys took weapons with them (most often issued by the rancher) was when cattle were driven between pastures. It was a rather risky occupation due to the possibility of meeting bandits, fugitive criminals or aggressive Indians along the way.
Cowboys are not bandits, but ordinary workers
A typical day of a cowboy did not consist of dashing shootouts with the local sheriff and horse races, but of monotonous work on the ranch, which included going around the territories, repairing fences and pens, branding young animals, searching for runaway cattle ...
The American word "cowboy" itself comes from a combination of two words: "cow" - a cow, "boy" - a guy / boy, which does not at all characterize a cowboy from an aggressive side.
This is interesting: among the cowboys, it was quite common to meet blacks or Mexicans. According to rough estimates, they occupied 2/3 of the total number of shepherds.
Difficult working conditions and low wages taught the cowboys to mutual assistance and collective responsibility. It is significant that in those days in large American cities many times more crimes were committed than in the vastness of the Wild West.
Cowboys' Favorite Drink Isn't Whiskey
What will a cowboy order after a hard day at a bar to soak his throat? Whiskey? But no! Cowboys' favorite drink has always been beer, on which they spent most of their money.
By the way, cowboys earned quite a bit. They received good money only for driving cattle between pastures, but this work was associated with a risk to life.
Cowboys didn't wear wide-brimmed hats.
Contrary to popular belief, a brimmed hat was not an indispensable attribute of any cowboy. Among the shepherds of the Wild West, hats were not very popular. And if someone wore a headdress, then it was almost always a bowler hat that was fashionable in those days.
Many cowboys didn't have horses.
Can't imagine a cowboy without a horse? But the reality is that almost none of the shepherds had the means to maintain their own horse, and those who still rode on horseback simply rented the animal from the rancher.
In addition, cowboys often did not need horses. Due to the too hot and arid climate, all the cattle grazed near the master's ranch for most of the year, so all the work for the cowboy was within walking distance.
This is interesting: given that cowboys rarely traveled on horseback, it would be quite unexpected to meet a cowboy who traveled on ... a camel. But such shepherds did exist. In 1855, the US government, as part of the program for the development of the Wild West and the advancement of the frontier (wild land development strip) to the west, ordered the purchase of several dozen camels so that cowboys could perform their duties even in the heat.
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At the word “saloon”, we immediately recall shots from some American western: double revolving doors swing open, and a silhouette of a cowboy appears on the threshold - he is in a big hat and frayed leather pants, in his holster is a revolver, and around the belt is a bandolier. The cowboy looks around the dimly lit room with his bleary gaze, where “cow boys” like him are sitting, and, clinking his spurs, approaches the bar, where he orders a glass of whiskey... This episode was used so often in westerns that in some the moment became a movie stamp. In the parody movie trilogy Back to the Future 3, the protagonist Marty McFly orders not whiskey at the bar, but a glass of water with ice...
History and origins
As you might guess, the word "saloon" comes from the French "salon", which, in turn, is formed from the word "salle" ("room").
The first reliable mention of a saloon dates back to 1822. An establishment in Brown Hole, Wyoming that catered to fur hunters called the saloon. As the settlers moved into the uninhabited areas of America, more and more new towns were formed, in which there was no entertainment, except for drinking in the evenings. At first, alcohol was sold by nomadic merchants who traveled from village to village in covered wagons, which were used not only as a means of transportation, but also as improvised trading tents. The assortment in them was small: homemade whiskey or moonshine, burnt sugar, smoking and chewing tobacco, and the like.
As new towns grew, permanent saloons began to open in them. Like all buildings, at first they were placed in hastily put together huts or even dugouts. There is a known case when a saloon was opened in the hull of an old sailing ship thrown ashore by a storm! The interior of the first saloons was rather ascetic. In the summer, they were hot, in the winter they were burned off by a wood-burning stove.
By the end of the 1950s, the term "saloon" was becoming commonplace for places where alcoholic drinks and food were sold. However, rough cowboy slang sometimes gave them their own nicknames: “watering trough” (“watering trough”), “bughouse” (“bughouse”), “shack” (“shebang”), “cantina” (“cantina”) and "gin mill" ("gin mill").
With the growth of the population of the towns, there was a gradual merging of saloons with hotels and hotels with saloons.
Often in cowboy villages that did not yet have their own town hall, saloons were the only public place. In them, the townspeople learned all the latest news, often managing to acquire colorful details and gossip. In westerns, you can often see how wanted posters for dangerous criminals with the inscription "Wanted" are posted in saloons. Politicians of those years often used saloons to buy votes in elections. And in the factory towns, saloons were a kind of labor exchange - there you could find work, permanent or daily.
From the unpretentious urban architecture, saloons usually stood out with a wide massive porch. Above the entrance to the saloon was a bright sign with some exotic name, such as: "Bull's Head", "Saint Moses", "Antler", "Big Tree" or "Red Dog".
At the entrance, visitors were greeted by double pendulum doors, which gave the institution a unique flavor. In cowboy films, these doors have been repeatedly used in fight and gunfight scenes; the bandits flew out especially beautifully through them. Surely you at least once thought about why there are such doors in the saloons? Without an answer to this question, an article about saloons cannot be complete!
Why do saloons have doors like that?
Because of their shape, reminiscent of batwings, these doors are nicknamed "batwing doors". Sometimes in films they look small and decorative, but in fact, they were quite large and massive - for an adult they reached the shoulder and ended somewhere at the level of the knees.
There is still no consensus about their functional purpose and where this fashion came from. There are a lot of versions, and in each of them there is some truth. Someone believes that this form of doors at the same time protected the saloon from road dust flying from the street and, long before the advent of air conditioners, allowed the room to be ventilated from heat and thick tobacco smoke.
The door, divided in two, opened equally well in both directions. This effect was achieved by a tight spring or double reversible hinges with slots beveled in different directions, which invariably brought the doors to their original state. Therefore, the tipsy visitor did not have to think about which side to open it - push or pull. This was convenient, because the flow of visitors in the evenings was endless, and an ordinary door would wear out much faster. So the institution saved well on the services of a carpenter!
The doors opened simply, but, at the same time, they were always closed, hiding from passers-by and angry wives the debauchery that reigned inside. Cowboy wives literally hated the saloons, in which their husbands often squandered their pay to the last cent, and even cheated on them with prostitutes. The always closed door prevented the women from looking into the saloon from the street.
Although what was inside was hidden from prying eyes, the sounds penetrated the outside well, attracting passers-by with music and laughter coming from inside. Often the owners planted musicians right at the entrance so that they would lure the audience with their playing. And in the event of a fight or shootout through such a door, it was easier to call for help.
The most exotic version suggests that the rocking-chair door made it possible to recognize the person who approached it by its hat and boots - whether it was the sheriff or the bandit One-Eyed Jack and prepare - for example, to hide the proceeds or get a revolver.
Even today, such doors look very exotic, and even more so in the 19th century - therefore, the “bat” door attracted visitors to the saloons by itself. The imagination of their owners was inexhaustible: the doors were often decorated with the most bizarre carvings, which was also a good advertisement.
Another exotic hypothesis connects the pendulum doors with the Indians - they did not have doors in their wigwams, and any full-length door supposedly seemed to them a solid wall. And since they were the main drunkards, doors were placed in the saloons that did not completely cover the opening, so as not to embarrass the "children of nature". However, this was hardly the case - the redskins were rarely allowed into the saloons, basically, they were shot at from them. And it seems completely incredible that someone would invent doors specifically for the Indians!
And of course, the pendulum door facilitated the work of bouncers: by holding back a person’s fall, it reduced the risk of breaking his head.
But how then were the saloons locked? The answer is simple - before the introduction of restrictions on the opening hours of drinking establishments, most saloons worked around the clock and never closed. There were no latches, no hooks, no latches on the rocking doors. However, in states with a cold climate, for example, in Alaska, during the period of the "gold rush", the saloons had the most ordinary doors that retained heat better.
Interior
The appearance of the saloon greatly depended on who it belonged to - as a rule, its owners were Germans or Irish. However, there was also much in common.
The first thing that caught the eye of the visitor was a long bar counter and a dozen tables along the walls where one could dine or play for money. Popular saloon games were poker, craps, and pharaoh. Some establishments also had darts, bowling and billiards.
In Irish saloons, the bar was standing up, the main drink in them was whiskey. Women were not allowed there, they could buy something only from the back door.
German saloons, as a rule, had large bright windows, the bar in them was seated, and the main drink was beer. The food in them was more refined, closer to the restaurant, and the rules were less rigid. Sometimes they even had a family menu. Other ethnic groups - Scandinavians, Jews, Greeks, Italians preferred smaller establishments and drank less.
NOT movie saloons
Alcohol
Drinks were monotonous, mostly of extremely low quality. In poor saloons, alcohol was mercilessly diluted. Turpentine, ammonia, gunpowder or pepper were added to whiskey. The names of cowboy drinks well reflect both the roughness of the era and their vigorous content: “Tarantula Juice” (“Tarantula Juice”), “200 Meter Whiskey” (in the original “Forty-Rod)” (the name implies that this whiskey is so strong , which kills at a distance of a pistol shot), "Red Eye" ("Red Eye"), "Coffin Varnish" ("Coffin Varnish"). The so-called "Cactus wine", which was made from tequila and peyote cactus juice, was considered a special delicacy.
There were no refrigerators at that time, and beer was rarely colder than room temperature, and pasteurization is out of the question. For this incomprehensible word in the saloon they could have been shot!
It wasn't until 1880 that Adolph Busch began to use refrigeration and pasteurization for his Budweiser beer.
The most popular whiskey among visitors was whiskey (Scotch made from barley or local corn bourbon), which was sometimes diluted with soda, beer, rum and gin. Other drinks were consumed much less often and were considered exotic. Whiskey and beer were very cheap and affordable for any visitor. With beer at 10¢ and whiskey at 12.5¢ a glass, many cowboys were hungover the next morning! However, the salaries were also low - the average cattle herder received about 40-50 dollars a month, and some even worked for food.
From a typical action movie in the western genre, one may get the erroneous opinion that cowboys did nothing but shoot each other in duels, hunt redskins, spending the rest of the time in saloons, where they amused themselves with drinking, gambling and shooting. In fact, this, of course, was not the case. Shooting in saloons is a popular movie cliché, but smokeless powder had not yet been invented, and it would be impossible to be indoors during the shooting.
From morning to evening, the cowboys spent in the saddle, driving cattle. In the absence of railways (and roads in general), the journey could take several weeks. This hard work required great strength (try lassoing a bull or a mustang!) and even more endurance. That is why the cowboys loved hearty food, which replenished their strength well. The main place in their diet was occupied, of course, by meat. Portions were huge by today's standards - for that tiny steak that is served today in cowboy restaurants, a hungry cowboy would have shot the waiter on the spot. But there were no great requirements for the quality of food, it had to be simply edible, no one expected frills from the cook.
During the hauls, the cowboys ate mainly unleavened biscuits and beef, which, of course, bored them to death. Saloon could "spoil" them with pork, lamb or fried chicken.
The first dish was beef offal stew. As a rule, beans or beans were served as a side dish. The food was so popular that in cowboy slang, the chef was sometimes referred to as a "bean-master" ("master of the beans"). Due to widespread unsanitary conditions, all food was heavily seasoned with red chili peppers. Instead of bread, the Wild West ate corn tortillas made from unleavened dough. Tea was expensive, cowboys drank coffee much more often. For dessert there was a pie - fish, chicken or apple.
Entertainment
As an entertainment program, the saloon offered, as a rule, live music - in the evenings a pianist played in it. The well-worn piano was rarely tuned, which is why the melodies on it were played primitive and monotonous, not requiring more than two octaves. It can be seen then that the saying was born: “do not shoot the pianist, he plays as best he can”!
In large institutions there were full-time dancers (who often worked part-time as prostitutes). They entertained the audience with the French cancan dance. It is curious that in those days in France this dance was single, but in England and America it was performed by an ensemble lined up - a corps de ballet. Even small theatrical performances were arranged in more prestigious places!
A steep wooden staircase led to the second floor. There were residential rooms in which guests spent the night. In some establishments, the second floor was used as a brothel.
With the growth of cities, the number of saloons also grew, which invariably created competition between them. In an effort to attract more customers, the saloons became more and more sophisticated. If earlier the saloon was a hut decorated with some kind of hunting trophies, such as a bearskin or a deer head with branched horns, now one could see paintings, expensive furniture and chandeliers, kerosene at that time, and even tablecloths on tables.
The carved bar counter deserves special attention. Bohemian glasses, figurines, beautiful kegs of beer and all kinds of exotic drinks, including imported ones from Europe, flaunted on the shelves of the bar. The skill of bartenders also grew - a certain code appeared on how a bartender should look, what drinks to be able to prepare. Ice was added to the glasses - it was specially bought and stored in a deep cellar, where the temperature was very low, and the ice did not melt.
The most popular Soviet western "The Man from the Boulevard des Capucines" reflects exactly that very period in the history of saloons, when they gradually turned from dirty eateries into places of leisure.
Tied-house system
By 1880 there were saloons in every city. For example, in Leavenworth, Kansas, there were about 150 saloons and 4 drinking houses. As the capacity of American breweries grows, they begin to master the British “tied-house” system, in which the company owns alcohol bars directly, selling its products through them.
The policy of the authorities also greatly contributed to the development of this system - for example, in Chicago, the cost of a license for a saloon was raised from $50 in 1883 to $500 in 1885. Only a small number of owners, among whom were large breweries, could afford such a high price.
Even then, the first franchises appeared, when breweries acquired conveniently located buildings for their bars, which they then rented out along with furniture, bowling alleys, pool tables and other equipment.
The sunset of the saloon era
And yet, despite its popularity, the saloon was a hot spot. Closely associated with prostitution and gambling, drinking establishments often became breeding grounds for crime. They regularly had fights and shootouts, sometimes fatal, and other crimes, because of which local sheriffs, who were called upon to keep order, often feuded with saloon owners.
The saloons did not cause joy among wives and mothers either, because they stimulated alcoholism, pulling the last money from their husbands and sons, leaving their family “on the beans”. As a result, many people saw the root of all evil in the saloons.
In 1893, the Anti-Saloon League was formed in Oberlin, Ohio, which caused many establishments to close. The League insisted on a ban on the production and import of alcohol, promoting their ideas at all levels of government. If the saloon worked longer than the permitted hours or used the labor of women and minors, it was immediately brought to the attention of the police. The triumph of the League was the amendment to the Constitution No. 18 of 1920, which prohibited saloons, however, in 1933 it was repealed.
