Cowboys were just that, boys that worked with cows. It was (and still is) shit manual labor that didn’t pay well and it was often minorities that were stuck with it. They were not gunslinging lawmen or outlaws. If they could afford a firearm at all it was usually a shotgun or small bore rifle for hunting game while on their cattle drives.
Agreed. Non-cowboy jobs in The Old Wild West included Prospector/Miner, Builder, Gunslinger/Bounty Hunter, Sheriff, Saloon Owner, Blacksmith, Wagon Train Leader, General Store Owner, Barber/Surgeon, Doctor/Veterinarian, Horse Dealer, Saloon Entertainer, Midwife, Schoolmarm, Farmer, Laundress… and of course Native Americans just trying to preserve their own society/way of life…
It’s probably shows like “Rawhide,” where the main cast of roving cowboys encounter all the above, that got us thinking of it all as “Cowboy Life.”
i believe a fascination with the “Old West” has been around for at least a hundred years at this point, honestly probably longer.
but hot damn if that isnt a great list of old-western ttrpg occupations
