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Tag Archives: History
What is a “dogie” and how did the term originate?
A dogie is what they used to call a motherless calf.
Stray calves or those that have lost their mothers at too young an age are still called dogies, actually.
Often the term is colloquially used to refer to all bovine in a herd.
The origin of the word “dogie” is unknown, but may stem from an earlier [...]
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Leave a commentWhat was the average speed of a cattle drive in the old West?
The average speed of a cattle drive in the old West was not that much faster than a wagon train.
Fifteen miles in a day was pretty typical as the cowboys moved the dogies toward a railroad stop where the cattle could be shipped for slaughter in eastern slaughterhouses.
Until the railroad lines reached the western frontier, [...]
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Leave a commentWhat was the speed of a stagecoach in the old West?
The fastest way to get across the plains was by stagecoach.
Traveling day and night, you could rip through about 100 miles per day, an average of a little more than four miles an hour.
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Leave a commentWho was Calamity Jane of the American Old West?
Calamity Jane was a woman who lived on the Western Frontier in the late 1800s.
She was a controversial character for a number of reasons, including the fact that she dressed in men’s clothes. She was known to loudly boast of her stint as a Pony Express rider and about serving under General Custer.
Some of her [...]
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Leave a commentWhat was Calamity Jane’s real name?
Calamity Jane was born Martha Jane Canary.
She added “Burke” to that and went by “Martha” or “M. Burke” during her marriage to a man named Clinton Burke, but she dropped it after abandoning him.
Her nickname, “Calamity Jane,” before and after her marriage was her name of choice. By 1902 she lived down to her name [...]
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Leave a commentWhat was Annie Oakley’s real last name and what was her stage name?
Annie Oakley was a stage name, as was the “Annie,” too.
Her real name was Phoebe Moses, and she was born in Darke County, Ohio. Another stage name she used in advertisements was “Little Sure Shot.”
The famous Native American chief Sitting Bull gave the name to her, after being wowed at her marksmanship.
As was common for [...]
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Leave a commentWho named Death Valley in Nevada and why?
A group of American pioneers dubbed it Death Valley in 1849 after they were seriously misrouted there on their way to California’s Gold Country.
As they finally escaped the valley, one of the women turned around and shouted, “Goodbye, Death Valley!” The name stuck. Despite the name, though, only one of their members actually died in [...]
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Leave a commentHow many people were eaten in the Donner Party when they resorted to cannibalism?
It was a desperate situation in the Donner Party. Trying to get to California, 90 people left too late, gambled on the weather holding, and lost.
They were trapped in the Sierra Nevada by winter snows. Separated into several groups, stuck from November until April, they began eating their dead when the food ran out.
Forty-eight people [...]
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How fast could covered wagon trains travel in the old West?