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MARTIN: |
I
think Americans love cowboys. |
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GRANT: |
That's good. I'm a cowboy. |
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MARTIN: |
Are
you? But you own the ranch, don't you, Mr. Grant? |
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GRANT: |
I'm
a rancher. I'm a businessman too. But I like being on my horse best.
I like what cowboys do. |
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MARTIN: |
Are
there still cowboys? |
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GRANT: |
Yes, but they aren't like the cowboys in the Old West. |
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MARTIN: |
Do
you know about the Old West? |
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GRANT: |
Yes. My family was a part of it. |
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MARTIN: |
Tell me about it. |
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GRANT: |
Of
course, the Indians were here first. The first white men were the
hunters and trappers. There weren't many. They were called mountain
men. They weren't settlers. They weren't cattlemen and farmers.
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MARTIN: |
When were the mountain men? |
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GRANT: |
Some time between eighteen twenty and eighteen forty. A lot of
people moved west in eighteen forty-nine and later. That was when
gold was discovered in California. |
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MARTIN: |
None of those men were cowboys. |
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GRANT: |
The
cowboys came a little later. Some came after the Civil War--in the
eighteen sixties and seventies. |
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MARTIN: |
Why? |
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GRANT: |
The
first railroad was finished in eighteen sixty-nine. |
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MARTIN: |
You
mean the first railroad all the way across America. |
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GRANT: |
That's when there was a need for cowboys. |
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MARTIN: |
Please explain. |
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GRANT: |
The
West was a good place to raise cattle. But all the people lived in
the East. |
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MARTIN: |
So
the cattle were raised here in the West. Then they were sent to the
East on the new railroad. |
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GRANT: |
Right. The cowboys took care of the cattle. Then they took them to
the railroad. The cattle were miles and miles away from the
railroad. |
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MARTIN: |
That's when the cowboys drove the cattle for days. |
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GRANT: |
Yes, it was. The Old West was about cows and cowboys. |
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MARTIN: |
And
here we are. |
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GRANT: |
That's what ranching is about today. Cows. |
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MARTIN: |
Tell me about the cattle drives in the old days. |
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GRANT: |
Many men came west after the Civil War. They were poor. There were
no jobs. No work. |
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MARTIN: |
Were there jobs here? |
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GRANT: |
No.
But there were cattle. All they needed to work was a horse. A few
men got together. They rounded up the cattle. Then they drove them
to the railroad. |
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MARTIN: |
And
they sold the cattle there? |
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GRANT: |
Right. Some of them got rich. |
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MARTIN: |
But
some of them didn't. What happened to them? |
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GRANT: |
Many of them went back and tried again. They got together with some
more men. They rounded up more cattle. They drove them to the
railroad. They sold them. |
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MARTIN: |
It
was a hard life. |
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GRANT: |
It
was a great life. |
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MARTIN: |
I
want to hear more. |
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MARTIN: |
Mr.
Grant, I'm very interested in your family. Could you tell me
something about their history? |
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GRANT: |
I'd
be happy to. |
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