Vintage Antique, Ft. Smith Prison LOCK & KEYS Movie Props 2940-LOCK
THIS WOULD MAKE AN EXCELLENT MOVIE PROP!!!!!
A true piece of American History, this Fort Smith Prison lock and keys set is an incredibly well made replication. It's a heavy one too, made exactly the way they made them in the old west. This lock was made from iron and it's meant to last a lifetime! The stamped plate on the front says, "Fort Smith Prison, ARK". Normally, in the old days, the name would be cast into the lock. The plate with the name and lock were made separately on this one. It comes with a fitting skeleton key, and the lock really works. The lock is 3" by 4-3/4". The key is 2-1/2" long. Be careful handling this set, 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. |