Old West Thanksgiving

Next week is Thanksgiving!!! An Old West Story of Thankfulness.......


This is a brief story of Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe-and her reason to be thankful!



A Close Call

In 1938, Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe remembers the dangers that settlers faced on the prairie in the 1800s, and the many reasons settlers had for giving thanks:

One of the best Thanksgiving dinners we ever knew of was when a family of settlers had their nice wild turkey dinner taken by the Indians, who came in silently and just shoved the folks back and eat it up. They did not harm the white people though and after they were gone the women made a big corn bread and with what few things the Indians left, they had a feast, the best as the daughter tells, that she ever eat. This was because they were so happy and thankful that the Indians spared them. This is one of many stories Mrs. Thorpe remembers from her pioneer childhood. To read more, in American Life Histories, 1936-1940, search on Hulda Esther Thorpe to find the document entitled, "Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe."

The Cowpuncher's Thanksgiving Rhymes of the Range

By L. Maynard Dixon

Sunset Magazine, November, 1903

Yearlin's

Now swing your rope—and swing 'er wide! It's brandin' time,—and it's time, you bet


To swing a big loop and to take yer ride,— Thank God, there's cows in the country yet!


Cut out that yearlin' and take a chance;— Show how you can ride. Bets up! I say


He'll burn the earth and he'll burn your pants. (We must have some sport Thanksgiving Day!)He's risin' high and he's landin' hard,— Stay with him, Bill! or it's gals good night!


If you can't stick him, a sure thing, pard, You'll land on the only rock in sight!


Now ride straight up—you must ride him fair. He's risin' high and he's landin' far!


Bet I can ride 'im and not pull hair,— Fer that's the kind of boy I are!




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Happy Thanksgiving from Buckaroo Leather.....

Buckaroo Leather wishes all you Cowboys and Cowgirls a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What will be on your Thanksgiving table??? Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, cranberries......

The first Thanksgiving had quite a different a menu. The table was filled with native fruits, like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries. There were also local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, Jerusalem artichokes and squash.

The main dishes included native birds and game as well as five deer. There were also fish and shellfish on the table.

Although our food for Thanksgiving dinner varies from the first dinner, the feelings of thankfulness, family, and freedom are still with us today.





Here is a story of one Thanksgiving from the 1800's of a settlers reasons for being thankful:

A Close Call

In 1938, Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe remembers the dangers that settlers faced on the prairie in the 1800s, and the many reasons settlers had for giving thanks:

One of the best Thanksgiving dinners we ever knew of was when a family of settlers had their nice wild turkey dinner taken by the Indians, who came in silently and just shoved the folks back and eat it up. They did not harm the white people though and after they were gone the women made a big corn bread and with what few things the Indians left, they had a feast, the best as the daughter tells, that she ever eat. This was because they were so happy and thankful that the Indians spared them. This is one of many stories Mrs. Thorpe remembers from her pioneer childhood.

Our family has been dedicated for 30 years in serving the
Western Horseman the safest most durable
Quality American made leather horse tack.......Buckaroo John Brand
Buckaroo Leather, The Brand to Demand
Visit Our Unique Store Today
Buckaroo Leather Shopping Site

The First Thanskgiving?

Thanks Giving is Next Week.

I thought this story of the Basques celebrating

Thanksgiving is an interesting story for the holiday.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Basques and the First Thanksgiving in America

The first actual feast of Thanksgiving was celebrated by Basques on April 20, 1598 in what was to become the United States, in present day El Paso, before the Mayflower survivors held their thankful feast in 1621. The feast was led by Juan de Onate during his expedition north from San Geronimo, Mexico to colonize New Mexico.

"Basques Hold the First Thanksgiving Feast in America"

One of our most honored annual traditions is Thanksgiving. Most Americans celebrate this holiday on the last Thursday of November. It is a continuance of the celebratory feast begun in the fall of 1621 by the fifty-three survivors of the Mayflower after their first year in a new land. It took place near Plymouth, Massachusetts.

However, the first actual feast of Thanksgiving in what was to become the United States occurred on April 20, 1598 in the area of present day El Paso, Texas. The feast was led by Basque Juan de Oñate during his expedition north from San Gerónimo,Mexico to colonize New Mexico.

The story begins in 1525 when Christóbal de Oñate y Narria, born twenty years previously in the Basque province of Bizkaia, came to Mexico and the New World as assistant to the accountant of the royal treasury of New Spain. Oñate rose quickly in politics, the military, mining and ranching and was instrumental in the settlement of the Zacatecas area of Mexico. Through his silver discoveries he became one of the wealthiest men in Mexico.

In 1552 his son, Juan de Oñate y Salazar was born, literally, with a silver spoon in his mouth. A child of frontier and colonial nobility, he was quick to rise to an influential presence in New Spain. In the late 1580’s Juan married the daughter of his father’s Basque business partner Juan de Tolosa. Her name was Isabel de

Tolosa Cortéz Moctezuma. She was the granddaughter of the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortéz and Isabel Moctezuma, the daughter of the Aztec emperor.

Making a very long story short, because of Juan de Oñate’s political connections, social standing and extreme wealth he was chosen by the king of Spain to finance and lead an expedition to colonize an unknown area to the north of Mexico called “New Mexico” which was thought to extend all the way to Newfoundland. As was the Basque custom on the frontier, Oñate surrounded himself with Basque friends and relatives and organized and funded an exploration party that consisted of five hundred men; one hundred thirty of which took their families along with them. They set off on their eight hundred mile trip in January 1598. They brought more than seven thousand head of livestock and eighty-three wagons and carts for food and every type of provision they could carry. (On this trip Oñate brought the first chili peppers and the first domesticated sheep into what would become the US.)

After three months of extremely difficult travel over trail-less desert with weeks of food and water rationing and, finally, after a stretch of five consecutive days without water, the group reached the Rio Grande River. Finding abundant water, game, fish and waterfowl, on April 20, 1598 Oñate led the members of his expedition in a Thanksgiving feast and celebration to give praise for finding the life-saving river. This event predated the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving in New England by twenty-three years.

At this location he named El Paso and then headed north to found the area now known as New Mexico, become one of the founders of Santa Fe and the first governor of the province. (There would be nine additional Basque governors of the Spanish province of New Mexico.)

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the Western Horseman the safest most durable Quality
American made leather horse tack.......

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