History Cowboy Spurs

Gunny Jackson, Speaker at the August 25 Blue Adobe History Hub Dinner

At age 67 Carl “Gunny” Jackson has found his calling. “I make people laugh,” he said, “and that’s something.”

At some points in his life Jackson wasn’t always so sure of his place in the scheme of things.

He was adopted when he was 8 years old, and before that was looked after by various relatives. At each new foster home he was introduced to a different religion. “I’ve been baptized so many times I thought I was waterlogged,” said Jackson.

“I’ve always believed there is a God. I talk to him every day. It’s just that my faith in the churches wandered.” And he noted that certain televangelists give religion a bad name.

In 1965 Jackson began studying Native American beliefs, and found a faith he can trust. “The more you know of something the less you have to fear of it,” he said.

Jackson served eight years in the Marine Corps, with tours of duty in Vietnam in 1966 and 1968. He earned a combat Purple Heart for “being in the wrong place at the wrong time” but says he isn’t any kind of a hero, just lucky. “The heroes are the guys that are buried over there,” he said.

“I always asked myself why I was one of them to come back. This last year and a half maybe answered part of that.”

These days Jackson gets to dress up and play cowboy to entertain folks, and is Sergeant at Arms for the local chapter of Rynning Rangers.

It all started close to two years ago with History Hub presentations at the Blue Adobe. The event blends food, entertainment and education — guests enjoy a meal while hearing true stories of local history. Jackson gave the first talk at a dinner show and also started off the daytime series. “I guess I’m kind of a fixture at the Blue Adobe,” he said.

“The Broken Down Cowboy” is Gunny Jackson’s stage name, after a song he wrote years ago. The name is legally registered with the state under his LLC. He has given History Hub presentations on The Apache Kid, The Battle of Big Dry Wash, and The Cowboy-America’s Hero and Icon.

Cowboy Spurs

Cowboy Spurs

When buying ancient cowboy spurs or heel spurs, you will probably come across some of the old makers known in the collectible circles as “The Big 3″. These 3 designers and manufacturers of cowboy spurs, bit and tack are celebrated for bringing the cowboy spur to mass store and also for providing us with supplies for our armies and cowhands who drove cattle hundreds of miles across America.

One of “The Big 3″ makers was August Buermann, born in Germany in 1842, he travelled to the Us to perfect training to come to be a locksmith. At the age of 22 he began to make spurs and tool for civilians and soldiery personnel and by the early 1900′s the majority of the Us mounted cavalry were wearing spurs that were commissioned and made by Buermann. Buermann spurs are no ifs ands or buts identifiable by their “Star Brand” logo which is normally settled under or near the buttons of the side of the spur. Despite his success and fame, the Buermann firm and trademark was bought in 1914 by North and Judd, other large and established hardware company.

North and Judd are also one of the celebrated spur makers and had their roots in manufacture saddlery, cowboy tool and boot spurs as far back as before 1800. In 1878 they became the North and Judd Manufacturing firm and had over 500 staff working for them, producing spurs and tool for the soldiers in the America Civil War and the Us Army. The celebrated mark of the North and Judd spurs is the “Anchor Mark” which was stamped on to each of the spurs they made.

Another of “The Big 3″ is the Crockett spurs company, started by Oscar Crockett in the early 1900′s. Oscar learnt the skills to make Cowboy Spurs from his brother and began to make practice sets of spurs to order as well as appropriate aluminum or steel spurs for the mass market. When the Crockett firm purchased the Shipley Spurs outfit in 1940, they were manufacture and selling over 170 types of spurs from their catalogs. Crockett spurs are marked with the word Crockett or C&G.

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