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"THE
OUTFIT"
Board of Directors: Jo Baeza,
Steve Taylor, Wendy Kochheiser, Linda Bohn, Gordon Kearl, Steve Harrington,
Rusty Weiss, Tauni Newman, Chris Isaacs
Sponsors Northland Pioneer
College White Mountains Online
Town of Pinetop-Lakeside
Show Low City 4 TV WME Theaters White Mountain
Independent Jack Barker Bison
Town
Muchas Gracias:
Larry Vicario, Jack Barker, JoAnn Barnes-Slocum Everett Robinson,
DeWayne Bartemus Jack Wood, Greg Tock, Billy Carnes, Arts Alliance of the White
Mountains , Mel West, Andy Towle
The White Mountains Roundup, Inc. was
established in 2006 by a committee of local people who wanted to preserve the
region's true cowboy heritage and promote cultural tourism. Stockmen were the
first non-Native settlers in the White Mountains. Sheepmen from New Mexico
grazed their flocks in northern Arizona even before the Civil War, raising wool
and meat for Spanish colonies in New Mexico. Cattlemen began driving herds from
Texas to provide beef to Fort Apache after it was established in 1871. With a
ready market, the beef industry thrived and remains an important part of the
economy today. In 2005 the U.S. Congress set aside the third Saturday in July
as the National Day of the American Cowboy to honor our cowboy and Western
heritage. Many communities across the West picked up on the idea and continue
to hold cowboy events on this day. Whether we are Native, Hispanic,
African-American, white, or any combination thereof, the one thing Westerners
have in common is our cowboy heritage. The American Cowboy wasn't the product
of any one culture or creed. He created his own culture and creed in the spirit
of the American West. At times wild and rowdy, at times heroic, the historic
cowboy left us a legacy of hard work, self-reliance and a refusal to be
defeated. Jesse Mullins, former editor of American Cowboy magazine wrote of the
cowboy: "He belongs to all of America, in all places and at all times, and his
highest-held principles and virtues are available to all and promise personal
betterment to all." In 2010 the rancher is still raising beef, and the cowboy
is still riding horses and driving cattle. Long Live the Cowboy!
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