Item 1 of 1
Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
| Play this item |  Help |
|
|---|---|---|
| Choose Format | bandwidth/file Size | |
 |
Play | 56k or higher |
 |
Play | 7 megabytes |
 |
Play | 15 megabytes |
Item Title
Buckaroo Clay Taylor Makes up his Bedroll at the Black Ridge Camp
Author/Creator
Narrator: Taylor, Clay
Smock, William H.
Fleischhauer, Carl, filmmakers
Created/Published
October 05,1979
Notes
Clay Taylor rolls up his bedding in a commercially-made canvas cover.
Canvas bedroll covers or tarps offer protection against dirt and the elements while the bed is on the ground or being transported. They are sold by supply houses and mail order stores like the J.M. Capriola Company of Elko, Nevada, the leading regional supplier of cowboy gear. In Capriola's 1982 catalog, the "Cowboy `Bed Roll' Tarp" is described as a seventeen-by seven-foot piece of 15-ounce, untreated canvas. The tarp is priced at $77.50, with straps costing an extra $19. The catalog description uses the term "old time," and Les says he thinks of them as a mark of the "old-time buckaroo." Bedroll contents and folding techniques vary. Some buckaroos use a thin mattress and blankets; others, including Les, use the tarp to enclose a sleeping bag. Clay's bedding is unusual in including a cowhide. When Les saw this footage, he pointed out that he folds his tarp so that the long flat section remains at the head of the bed, where he can pull it over his head if it rains. Clay's tarp could not be folded in this manner unless the snaps were moved. Two bedrolls rolled up for transportation lie on the ground behind Clay. (Further variations in form and material are described in Ward 1958, 47-48.)
A roof extends from one end of the Black Ridge cabin, creating a porch where four or five Army cots are set up. At the end of the video, Clay walks there and finds that all of the cots are spoken for, whereupon Tex Northrup offers his.
In the fall, the creek at Black Ridge dries up and there is no water for livestock. As Clay is making up his bed, his father, Henry, splashes water into a wash basin near the cabin. The soundtrack includes Henry's remark about one of the horses hearing the splash and jumping toward the sound.
Subject
Activities
Bedrolls
Line camps
Buckaroos
Trail Drive (1979)
Ethnography
Motion Pictures
Ninety-Six Ranch
Black Ridge Camp
Object Type
Medium
16mm film
Language
English
Call Number
NV9-VT4
Digital ID
afc96ran v009
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc96ran.v009