This collection includes interviews about living and working in Montana and the American West during the early 20th century. The interviews were conducted in 1981 by Jo Rainbolt. The interviewees discuss immigrating to Montana and homesteading there, as well as cowboying and cowboy culture in Montana and Idaho. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 052 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
This collection includes 4 interviews.
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Joe Hughes Interview, January 21, 1981
Joe Hughes
Joe Hughes describes cowboying during the 1910s in Eastern Montana, including working on ranches such as the Horseshoe Bar and the Antlers Ranch, which was owned by a German immigrant named Heinrich who leased land on the Crow Reservation for his cattle. Hughes discusses how ... Read More
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Ken Trowbridge Interview, May 3, 1981
Ken Trowbridge
Ken Trowbridge recalls his years as a cowboy beginning at age 13 when his family relocated by wagon to Gooding, Idaho. He discusses the low pay, the hard work and long hours, and the isolation that most cowboys experienced. Trowbridge describes the clothes that most ... Read More
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Mary Graves Welte Interview, February 19, 1981
Mary Welte
Mary Welte describes her experiences homesteading in Montana. She recalls moving with her family on an immigrant train from Illinois to Montana when she was eleven years old. Welte discusses her father’s musical ability and his insistence that each of his children learn to play ... Read More
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Tony Grace and Ken Trowbridge Interview, May 6, 1981
Tony Grace and Ken Trowbridge
Tony Grace describes coming west from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to be a cowboy after watching and reading westerns. He talks about working as a cowboy in various locations throughout the American West, including Jackson Hole, West Yellowstone, Montana, and Arizona. Grace recalls eventually settling in Southwest ... Read More