The Wisdom of Cowboys

There are days when absolutely nothing beats being a teacher. This week was one of them. 

I love bringing in outside speakers to help students think about life and history differently. 

History is not simple, and hearing directly from experts can be so valuable.

For my Myth and Reality of the American West course, I invited Jesse Hooker Davis to speak to my students. Mr. Davis is a sixth-generation Arizona rancher. He was gracious to talk to my students about the history of his family, but, even more interestingly, about the challenges of being a modern rancher. 

The patriarch of Mr. Davis’s family was Henry Clay Hooker, who founded the Sierra Bonita Ranch in 1872. Col. Hooker grew up on the East Coast and moved out west in the 1840s. In the late 1860s, he secured a contract to supply beef to the U.S. government in the Arizona territory, including the U.S. Army and American Indian reservations. He founded his ranch after his cattle stampeded and settled around a forest of cottonwood trees—a sure-fire indicator of a water source. Hooker’s ranch peaked at 250,000 acres. Today, it is less, but when I asked Mr. Davis, he said something along the lines that his mother would find that a rude question, as one might infer something about one’s financial status. It was one of many powerful lines that he shared with my students.  

Davis shared the history of Henry Hooker’s dealings with the Apaches. His ranch was near the center of Chokonen Chiricahua Apache territory. He arrived just as the great Apache chief and warrior Cochise secured a peace agreement. Cochise was a brilliant strategist and negotiated a reservation next to the Mexican border. This allowed the Chiricahua, who had a conflict with the Mexicans, to raid for cattle, horses, and other resources, and then safely come back to the U.S. It was a serious diplomatic issue. But Hooker had a positive relationship with Cochise—he was an honest dealer when many Anglos were corrupt and exploitative. Hooker received a Navajo blanket as a gift from Cochise, and there is a legend that Hooker gave Cochise the blanket that he was buried in. (Mr. Davis would not confirm that, but did say that the blanket that Cochise gave Hooker is at the ranch.)

After Cochise died, the U.S. government closed the reservation, and war enveloped southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas. Hooker set up his ranch at a Mexican presidio that had been abandoned in the early 1800s due to Apache raids. Mr. Davis described it to my students as an adobe building that has an internal water source, a flat roof, and gun ports. It had a back gate designed to allow inhabitants to ride straight ten miles to a fort. He noted that the Apaches never attacked the main complex, but part of this was due to Hooker being willing to give the Apache cattle. Still, from the late 1870s until Geronimo’s surrender in 1886, Arizona remained a dangerous place.

We didn’t have enough time to talk about all of the historical figures that Hooker came across during his time at Sierra Bonita. The ranch is close to Tombstone, and Col. Hooker became friends with Wyatt Earp, even sheltering him during the Earp Vendetta Ride, which is portrayed in the great western film with Kurt Russel called Tombstone. The famous gunfighter and sociopath Billy the Kid worked at the Sierra Bonita Ranch for one day. We didn’t talk about it in class, but a blacksmith made fun of Billy, and he shot him. The American West was not for the weak.

And it still isn't. My students asked Mr. Davis about what it is like to manage the Sierra Bonita today. We talked about water, sustainability, and traditional ranching. The Hereford line that his patriarch brought to southern Arizona is pure. They don’t do things like artificial insemination. They use horses—not ATVs—to round up cattle. A person in his position could cut corners, but Mr. Davis doesn’t. 

I wish I had recorded the conversation and had a video of my students listening to him. They had such great questions. One asked about how he preserves the history of his family’s ranch with new technology, and Mr. Davis shared how he was dealing with that just today, reimagining a corral with old adobe and more modern fencing. Mr. Davis also talked about how Arizona has been in a 30-year drought and how he has adapted. He noted that Mother Nature will always win. He has been focused on sustaining water on his ranch and has won several conservation awards. 

One student asked him what he loves about being a rancher, and he talked about the quiet and sustaining family tradition. 

My final question was about what high school seniors, who are about to be able to vote, should be aware of about family-owned agriculture. He paused and told us we could do a whole other class. But I loved his answer. He encouraged students to get informed and vote—no matter their views. He noted that ranchers and farmers spend their long days sustaining a global food supply. They don’t have time to get on social media. His cattle provide food… but he noted it’s “not about T-bones vs ground beef”... but includes additional key goods like collagen, medical products, and leather. And, he talked about the interconnectedness of all ranching and agriculture.

Today, my students met a person who is independent, thoughtful, tough, and works hard to support his family’s legacy and make a difference. My students and I left more curious and truly in awe of a great American. And, they got a sense of how the world really works. Davis is upholding his family’s legacy. He is trying to sustain a way of life, and it is not easy. 

The “wisdom of cowboys,” it turns out, isn’t about riding into the sunset; it’s about staying and taking care of what endures.