Erwin E. Smith

    Erwin E. Smith was a talented photographer who liked to take pictures of his friends and family doing daily activities. He enjoyed taking pictures of his two sisters, but his all time favorite model was himself. He used the pictures he took for the cover of brochures advertising his work. Erwin lived in Texas for all of his life, the location he lived at had approximatively 5,000 residents and was a trading hot spot.


   Through Hollywood's ideal vision, cowboys would have perfect teeth, dusty, handsome faces, but un-torn clothing and a perfect physique, but the real deal was nothing like this. Erwin E. Smith states that the cowboys definitely were not perfect, even judging by their clothes. They basically would wear long sleeved cotton or wool shirts and work pants. They would usually wear vests to carry small objects. Cowboys used hats and kerchiefs for many reasons apart from their attire. 


  Hollywood gives the idea that men in the wild west only had one important piece of equipment, and that was his gun. In many cases this is not true, the most important was his horse. By using his horse he can travel great distances. For example in Hollywood hits like "Bedtime Stories" Adam Sandler refers to a horse as a mustang, which back in the wild west wild horses truly were called that. 

Cowhand Equipment