Hats

More that anything else the hat sets apart the cowboy from all others.  With its high crown and wide brim nothing else in the way of head gear even comes close.

There is some conjecture that the cowboy hat descended from the large hats worn by the Mongol horsemen ages ago.  Mexican sombreros are similar to good old Ghengis' favorite head gear, and the modern cowboy hat evolved from the sombrero.  The hat and many other components of the cowboys working gear can be traced back to equipment brought over by the Spanish.  In fact even our long horn cattle were introduced to this country by Christopher Columbus during his second trip to the Americas.

Sombrero

The style of hats varied throughout cattle country due more to the changes in climate than to any concern over a sense of fashion.  Typically the farther south a person went into cattle country the larger the brim of the hat. With the abundance  of hot, sunny days in the southwest the sombrero and other hats with large brims provided cooling shade during long hours on horse back.  The old style southern planters hats also were also utilized by the southwestern cowboy.

Planters Hat     

Believe it or not one of the first sources for cowboy hats was the Montgomery Ward catalog.  In the early 1870s Monkey Wards was offering a "Men's Panama Hat" and around 1878  the "Planters Hat" was introduced.  The hat was manufactured in drab colors and made either of Saxony wool felt or Cassimere fur felt.  This limited offering indicates that they were probably not to popular an accoutrement during the 1870s and the cowboys made do with what they had.

The extreme variations in temperature and high winds of the northern plains called for a hat different in design from its southern cousins.  Made of heavy felt, the northern cowboys hat provided insulation from both the heat and the cold experienced on the range.  Over time a cowboys beloved hat would take on a character of its own due to constant abuse and scrunching.  Take time to look at some old pictures and you will see that every one in the picture has a hat distinctive to itself.  It is no wonder they were a prized possession and continue to be so to this day. 

John B. Stetson was the father of the western style cowboy hat.  He began production of the "Boss of the Plains" hat in 1865.



The hat had a four inch brim and crown and sold for around $5.00.  It weighed a grand total of 2ounces and you could choose between the colors of natural or natural.  The hat grew in success and became the most popular on the plains.  The "Boss of the Plains" came unformed and the cowboy could shape the hat to his individual taste.  Judging by old pictures some attempts at hat shaping were not too successful.  Regardless of how ridiculous the hat looked those old cowhands looked proud.

Design of crown creases and brim shapes tended to vary from region to region.  Often you could tell where a cowhand worked by the type and design of his hat.  In later years it became evident to the Stetson company that shaped hats were the way to go and they provided a line of pre shaped hats.  The old west cowboy could now choose from a variety of styles with names like:  Bronco, Dakota, Austin, Roundup, Big Four, Carp, Carlsbad, Calgary, etc.

Prices of hats varied according to quality starting at around $14.00 for a number one quality to $35.00 or more for 7X beaver.  Based on the $30.00-$40.00 per month salary of the average cowhand a new hat was no small investment.

Not to be left out, both Sears Roebuck Company and Montgomery Wards offered their own line of hats and continued to do so into the early 1900s.  Sears used carry the "Chief Moses" an ungainly thing that came with an option of vibrant red stars.  A cowboy could supposedly arrange the stars however he saw fit and come up with some sort of masterpiece.  There had to have been a few fireside ribbing sessions delivered to the proud owners of "Chief Moses" hats.

The ten gallon hat made so popular by early western movie stars like Tim McCoy, Tom Mix and others were more a device of Hollywood than reality.  They were popular among movie stars and rodeo cowboys but were not utilized by the 19th century working cowboy.