Dude ranch11/9/2023 In fact, it was an insult to western hospitality to try to pay for a several-day stay. Yes indeed! When “dude” guests first started appearing in the early years, there was no precedent for charging them money. The well-dressed, shiny-shoed “dudes” started traveling out west in droves – both by the burgeoning railway system and in newfangled automobiles that started appearing in the early 20th century. President Roosevelt’s accounts of ranch life fanned the flames of curiosity and adventure for Easterners about the Great American West. Teddy bought his own ranch nearby – the Maltese Cross Ranch. Once he visited, he couldn’t get enough of the hunting, fishing, and horseback riding fun. He caught wind of the Eaton Brothers’ establishment and wanted a taste of cowboy life. The early popularity of dude ranches owes itself, at least in part, to one of America’s most outdoorsy presidents, Teddy Roosevelt. How Did the Word Spread About Dude Ranch Visits? They wrote letters to their friends and family back on the East Coast about all the wild adventures they were having. An enterprising man by the name of Howard Eaton and his brothers started the Custer Trail Ranch and fell in love with the Western cowboy lifestyle. Back in the 1880’s, cattle was booming in that region. The first dude ranch was located in the Dakota Badlands. Here are a few imponderables about dude ranches and their origins. Ranches that opened up to the tourism business were called guest ranches, or “dude ranches”. When city dwellers from the East Coast discovered that ranch visits in the wide open West made for great vacations, ranches started hosting them – and eventually charging them for their stays. It’s what western cattle ranchers, a.k.a. But in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the word had a different slang meaning. Today, “dude” means something like “bro”.
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