Buckaroo Hall of Fame Motto

Buckaroo Hall of Fame Motto

Don't Call them Cowboys

by Walt Wentz

Where the Old West still lives-- in the Great Basin areas of Oregon, Nevada and Idaho--they call themselves Buckaroos, not cowboys.

It's an important distinction in the Buckaroo Hall of Fame in Winnemucca, Nevada. Here you will find no rhinestone rodeo cowboys, no Hollywood cowboys in white hats, but real working cattlemen who lived, or still live, anywhere within 200 miles of Winnemucca, Nevada.

The town itself is a holdover from the Wild West, the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid made their last big haul and got away clean--and where the more law-abiding cattlemen of the day came in to get supplies, to find work, to take care of business and have a bit of pleasure.

Today, the big visitor's center on Main Street looks like a cross between and Old West gambling hall and a sports arena, and the new and growing Buckaroo Hall of Fame occupies pride of place on the ground floor. Here you will find artwork, photos and memorabilia....saddles, guns, hand-woven lariats, brands and other working gear used by Buckaroos.

It was Carl Hammond of Golconda, Nevada, who first got the idea for the Bucakaroo Hall of Fame. His own father, Francis Hammond was a working Buckaroo.

"He was the reason I started it, he took me on the buckaroo wagons when I was 6 and 7, back in the early 60's when there were no fences and it was still open range in Nevada," recalls Carl.

It is to preserve that vanishing history that the Buckaroo Hall of Fame was finally incorporated in 1989. Three buckaroos were inducted into the Hall of Fame that first year, and three or four more have been inducted every year since then.

The result is a low-keyed but unsparingly authentic glimpse of what life of a buckaroo was really like.

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