Old West Cowboy JAIL WARDEN Skeleton Keys

This is a true collector's item! This is a set of well made replicas of old western skeleton jail keys. They were cast by an old friend of Richard's down the street. You can make a great statement with these dangling from your belt. You'll be the warden of the house with this set. You can give the keys a quick jingle every now and then to keep the kids from acting up. This is a set of seven of these keys. They range in length from 1-5/8" to 3-1/8". These are great replicas of years gone by!

The cowboy was born in 1866 as the first herd of Texas longhorns trailed across hundreds of miles of wild and dangerous country filled with predators and hostile Indians. From that time on the big Texas cattle drives fed the market for a beef-hungry America. Six hundred thousand cattle came up the Texas trail in 1871 in herds of about 2,000 each led by a wild, reckless, and tough bunch of young men with great courage and fortitude. Huge numbers of longhorn cattle had multiplied in Texas after the Civil War, the result of few predators, few fences, and plenty of grass and water. They ran wild while Texas men went off to fight for the Confederacy. With the war over, a new line of work was needed for the adventurous and courageous survivors. Cow-gathering was a challenge but getting a herd all the way to the Kansas railroad paid big. Early cowboys had very little grub (mostly corn meal and salted bacon), used homemade saddles and chaps, had no tents or tarps, braided their own rope from horsehair, and bragged they could go any place a cow could and stand anything a horse could. Lay on the saddle blanket and cover with a coat was the Texas trail bed. The twelve-inch-barrel Colt was necessary equipment and boy did it get used. Strong, wily men who were persevering and loyal defined a new American spirit of freedom and independence. Mothers shared great pride in seeing their sons grow up to be cowboys when the west was young.