BOSS OF THE PLAINS by Marisa Masterson

 Hats! I struggle with them. 

Withe every novel I write, I research men's hats to try to find just the right look for my hero. After all, the hat needs to fit with whatever time period I'm recreating. I wish it were as easy as plopping a Stetson on the hero's head. Here's where the problem comes in.

This famous photo of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch
shows the popular bowler hats.

What you might call the cowboy hat wasn't created until 1865. John Stetson designed the hat for himself while on an expedition in the West. Men at the time typically wore bowler hats. The brim of this was much more narrow than the hat Stetson created. Maybe the sombreros he repeatedly saw inspired the wide brim of his creation.

Stetson created a hat with a high, flat crown. Dents in each side allowed the wearer to remove it by the crown and not the brim. Consider that flat crown. It's not like the cowboy hats we know today. His hat was similar to what an Amish man wears.

Speaking of bowlers and sombreros, those were what cowboys actually wore. While Stetson started manufacturing his hat in the early 1870s, they weren't immediately popular. In fact, the Boss of the Plains (as it was nicknamed) didn't catch on until the late nineteenth century. 

So, do I plop a cowboy hat onto my hero living in 1871. Probably not. Unless of course, he wants to start a whole new fashion trend. 

But, what would the boys in the bunkhouse say?

I've explained the Boss of the Plains. Now, I invite you to consider another "Boss" that's on sale. For the first time, my Proxy Bride novel A Bride for Boss is only $.99!

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What should be a business arrangement quickly becomes a matter of the heart. The three would be a happy family, if only the kidnappers stopped coming at night. 

Who's sending them and how can they keep their adopted child safe?

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The Most Iconic Image of the Old West

By Sophie Dawson

When someone says the Old West or cowboy immediately an image jumps into our minds. It's the image of a man, either sitting on a horse or standing straight and tall. At least that's what pops into my mind. What is it that sets this person off from all the other images of men? It's his hat.

And what's the most famous, and the first true cowboy hat ever invented? The Stetson of course.

Boss of the Plains

John B. Stetson was the son of a hat maker in New Jersey. He invented the hat we know as a cowboy hat while panning for gold in Colorado in the mid 1860's. He couldn't enlist in the military because of his ill health. While there, Stetson made a hat from felted beaver fur with a wide 4" brim, an insulating airspace above the head, and was waterproof so it could be used to carry water. His companions laughed at the results, but Stetson wore it for the rest of their trip.

Stetson returned to the east in 1865 and with $100 worth of tools and felted fur began making the hats. Easterners weren't impressed with the hats of such a strange design. Stetson sent samples of the hats to every Western-wear merchant he could with a blank order form included with each hat.

Orders poured in even though the hats were expensive. Only two styles and two colors were available of the Boss of the Plains. Black and pearl-gray with different widths of the brim. Texans preferred black with a wide brim, and Montana cowboys opted for pearl-gray with a narrower brim that wouldn't blow off as easily.

The wide brim of both styles kept the rain from running down the cowboy's neck as well as shielding the face. Cowboys could, and did, personalize the hats using steam. They'd crease the center of the crown and dent in the sides making it their own. The felted fur, steamed and modified as desired, held it's shape for years.

 John B Stetson gave us the single symbol that epitomizes the Old West and cowboys to this day.

Stetson's Boss of the Plains vs the Bowler

 

STETSONS

When writing my novella contribution for Silver Belles and Stetsons, I looked into when Stetsons were first branded as a hat company, and what it  meant. After all, silver bells, "belles", and Stetsons had better make a showing in an anthology named such.

"Stetson" seems synonymous with "cowboy hat" and both seem critical to the modern image of an Old West, Victorian-Era Cowboy.

Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. Founded in 1865, they're known for many different shapes of hats, named differently. Campaign hat (Smokey Bear). Calvary hat. Prospector's hat. Ten-gallon hat. Boss of the Plains hat. Technically, every 'kind' could be accurately called a Stetson.

BOSS OF THE PLAINS

The Boss of the Plains was a lightweight all-weather hat designed in 1865 by John B. Stetson for the demands of the American west. It was intended to be durable, waterproof and elegant. This design and the term "Stetson" eventually became all-but-interchangeable with what later became known as the cowboy hat. [source]

"Cherokee Bill" (Crawford Goldsby), between 1894 (became outlaw) and 1896 (hanged upon conviction of murder of 7 men (including his brother-in-law), 1 month after his 20th birthday). His gang terrorized Indian Territory for 2 years. Note the wide, flat brims of the hats with various shape crowns. Image: Public Domain

Apache Man & Boss of the Plains Image: Public Domain

BUT THE BOWER WON THE WEST...?

The bowler, not the cowboy hat or sombrero, was the most popular hat in the American West, prompting Lucius Beebe to call it "the hat that won the West". [source]

Bowler hats were the most popular in the American west. Originally created in 1849 in Great Britain for a nobleman, it became popular with the working class and as with many things, then became popular and common in the States. During the years of westward expansion, men went west with what they owned or could afford to purchase... and their bowlers went with them.

Interestingly enough, bowlers were often preferred to wide-brimmed hats in the West because they wouldn't blow off in the wind, while riding a horse, or when sticking one's head out of the window a speeding train.

In the United States, the bowler became known as the derby, and lent its name to outlaw Marion Hedgepeth was commonly referred to as "the Derby Kid". Derbies were worn by lawmen and outlaws alike.

Dodge City Peace Commission, June 1883. Image: Public Domain

In the image, above, of Dodge City Peace Commission (1883), many of the men are wearing a Boss of the Plains hat. The wide, flat brim and rounded crown are key characteristics. Top row, far left and top row, second from the right are the popular bowler hat (a.k.a. Derby). This rounded-cap, smaller brimmed hat is also frequent in Victorian era pictures of the Old West.

WHY WEAR A HAT?

In the 21st Century, hats are a fashion statement and little else. Very casual hats (think baseball caps) might be a quick fix for a bad hair day.

Men in the 19th century wore hats for entirely different reasons. Note that vintage photographs on the street show every man and boy with covered heads. This was partly for protection from the weather, sun (sunburn and dehydration), falling debris in a mine or crowded city streets with many-floored buildings rising above the sidewalks. Hats kept body heat in and the hair clean. They also showed authority, social status, and became part of the expectation of "properly" dressed.

Settlers, ranchers, cowboys and miners wore hats in the open of the Old West for various understandable reasons. Without clothing like modern rain slickers, men depended upon their wide-brimmed hats for protection against torrential rain and snowfall, the blazing sun of the Great Basin and Sonoran Deserts, and extreme temperatures. Air space between the crown of the hat and a man's head acted as prized insulation against the weather, hot or cold.

Image from Unabridged Facsimile Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalogue 1895

So yes, Stetsons were ubiquitous. Men settling the West wore hats, pretty much all the time unless in church or at their mama's kitchen table. I'm glad the western cowboy hat has survived as an icon of the past.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. What do you think about hats from the Old West era? What have you noticed as you browse old images, read about the past, or delve into history? 

 
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Copyright © 2015, Kristin Holt, LC

What are you thankful for?

The month of November tends to be a month when we reflect on the thing for which we are thankful. Understandable, since Thanksgiving falls in the latter part of the month.  As a child, my dad instilled a tradition in which each person present for Thanksgiving dinner had to tell two things they were thankful for that year before we could eat. The tradition stuck with me, and my husband and I changed it up so that we do this every night before dinner.  It's a fun experience that I highly recommend. Some nights the kids say something silly, and we even had two months straight of our four year old being thankful for a balloon. But then there are the nights when they don't answer right away.  They tilt their little chins and look up, thinking-really thinking- of all they have to be grateful for, and I remember why we go through it every night.

For this post, I thought it would be fun to travel back one-hundred and fifty years, to the year 1865, and drop in on a family on Thanksgiving.  Let's listen as they circle around the table, giving their thanks for the year.

***

1870 Ridleys - Thanksgiving, NY

"Before we eat, let's each say one thing we're thankful for." Frank Billings looked around the table, making eye contact with each person sitting at the table. The year had been difficult, and now more than ever, they needed to focus on their blessings. "Ethel, we'll begin with your since you're the youngest."

"I'm thankful for my Alice in Wonderland book, that Aunt Liz brought me from her trip to England, and that Auntie is home again." Ethel stared at the food on her plate, probably wondering how much she had to eat before she was allowed a slice of pie.

Frank smiled. "That was a lovely gift she brought you. Nellie, your turn."

A dreamy expression rested on Nellie's face. "I'm thankful for The Checkered Game of Life."

Angling his head, Frank looked at his daughter, perplexed that she'd choose a parlor game to be her thankfulness item. Then he remembered what Caroline, his beloved wife, had told him last week. Nellie was now of courting age, and had an interest in John Rutgers. Something told him that when she played the popular game, she dreamt of a life with John.  He should prepare himself for a visit from the young man.

To be young and carefree again.

His gaze skipped over the two empty chairs. He couldn't dwell on the vacancies yet without his heart aching for his sons. "Caroline?"

She didn't answer right away but blinked rapidly. Her delicate throat constricted when she swallowed. "I'm thankful the dreadful war is finally over."

So many words unspoken.  Frank Jr, had been killed in '62.  Seth, their second oldest, was missing, even months after the war ended. They couldn't give up hope.

Frank rubbed his jaw. "We can all agree on that."  He needed to do something to lighten the heavy mood. "I'm thankful for my Stetson hat."

The gift had come as a surprise in the post earlier that week. He still wasn't sure why his brother had sent it, but an accompanying note said,"These are the hats everyone will soon be wearing."

A few chuckles circled the room.

"It looks good on you, Pa."

"As would anything."  Caroline offered him a hesitant smile.

Moments of joy had been so rare the last few years. If only...

The door opened and everyone's head turned.  There, in the opening, stood Seth.

He'd come home. They all had something else to be thankful for now.

***

Did you enjoy your brief travel back in time?

A few notes regarding the "thankfulness" passage.  Alice in Wonderland was first published in England in the summer of 1865, but not in America until November 1865.

The Game of Life was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley. It was originally called The Checkered Game of Life and is considered to be one of the first parlor games.

John Stetson opened his first factory (a rented room) in 1865 with only $100.  Within a year, the "boss of the plains" style would be created.

While Lee's surrender at Appomattox is often synonymous with the end of the Civil War,  President Johnson did not officially sign a declaration to end the war until four months later in August of 1865.  For many soldiers, it would still be months before they saw home again.

One final note- this short narration is not connected to any of my works but is a simple portrayal of a familiar scene from a different time. I hope you enjoyed it and thought about your own things to be thankful for.


Happy Thanksgiving!