Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1987
Abstract
In sparsely populated cattle frontier regions of the nineteenth century, only a limited number of social institutions functioned. The ranch, as a central socioeconomic complex, took on added importance. Ranch owners often took upon themselves political and legal powers exercised by civic officials in more settled areas. In the cattle regions of the American West and the pampas of Argentina, taverns were important local institutions. A comparison of social activities in the western saloon and the Argentine pulperi'a-a combination country store and tavern-reveals strong similarities. As frontier institutions, they served analogous multiple functions, and their cowboy and gaucho patrons behaved according to the norms of similar "saloon cultures."1
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly [GPQ 7 (Summer 1987): 155-165].Copyright 1987 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.