Evening with the Curator

Buckaroo- Hispanic Heritage in the High Desert

Buckaroo
What is a buckaroo? Discover the history of these distinctive cowboys of the High Desert with Bob Boyd, the Museum's Curator of Western History, the evening of May 14th.

The heritage of the High Desert rangeland began two centuries ago in Spanish colonial California, where vaqueros developed a culture of training horses and working cattle on the missions and ranchos. In the late 1860s California cattlemen began to drive their herds north and establish ranches in Nevada, eastern Oregon and southeastern Idaho.
With the cattle came California vaqueros, transplanting their customs, and finely crafted gear of rawhide and leather, silver and horsehair.

This evening's presentation will tell the story of how the early vaqueros evolved into today's High Desert buckaroos, illustrated with historic and landscape photographs and an extensive display of vaqueros and buckaroo gear.

6:30 pm - 9:30 pm. /$15 . Members, $10. Call 541.382.4754 to register.