Old Western Santa Fe Route Railroad Padlock & Keys Replica Set.

This Santa Fe Route Railroad padlock and keys set is an incredibly well made replication of a true piece of American History. It's an average size, made exactly the way they fashioned them in the old west. This lock was made from iron and it's meant to last a lifetime! The engraved plate on the front says, "Santa Fe Route Railroad". It comes with a pair of matching skeleton keys, and the lock really works. The lock is 3-3/4" by 2-1/2". The keys are 2-1/8" long. You'll receive one set from the group. Be careful handling this set as it's a bit rusty.

The cowboy was born in 1866 with the first herd of Texas longhorns trailed across hundreds of miles of wild and dangerous country, filled with predators and hostile Indians, to the wide open town of Abilene.... created by the Kansas Pacific Railroad as the western frontier railhead for shipping cattle East. 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 and 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. 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, 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 your saddle blanket and cover with a coat was the Texas trail bed. The twelve-inch-barrel Colt was necessary equipment. Strong, lightweight and wiry 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.