OLD WEST LEGENDS

Old Time Cures & Remedies

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I smile to think of what they used

To help us kids survive,

But I am "going on" 69

And very much alive.

My sorest throats were eased, and I

Still hold no bit of rancor

To think of sucking sugar lumps

With a drop or two of camphor.

And camphor mixed with goose grease for

A winter chest congestion;

Baking soda cleaned my teeth

And helped my indigestion.

Because of Mother's tender heart

I hereby sing a Gloria!

She never gave me castor oil,

Just syrupy Castoria.

Salt for all mosquito bites,

Cobwebs on the scratches,

The sickroom fumigated with

Our sulphur kitchen matches.

Somehow there's quite a bunch of us

That never had a shot,

But here we are still kicking

And enjoying it a lot.

          - Author Unknown

Note:  These are just for fun!  While these were actually published in old books, we do not recommend that you try them!  They actually could be dangerous!

Baldness/Thinning Hair

• Smear your head with fresh cow manure.

• For thinning hair make a solution of salt and water and comb through hair every day until you see hair becoming thicker.

Beard Growing

• The Liquid obtained from boiling old boots was used to promote the growth of hair on the face of young men—an attempt to appear more masculine.

Bee Stings

• Mix up honey and dirt dauber’s nest and rub it on the sting.

Boils

• Catch a chaparral bird (roadrunner) in the early morning.  Kill and eat it and the boil will go away.

• Soak a small section of heel of homemade white bread in boiling water.  Squeeze with back of spoon.  Lay on sterile gauze or boiled cloth.  Add pinch baking soda (1/4 tsp).  Mix with soaked bread, wrap in gauze and apply to affected area.
   

Burns

• Apply ice wrapped in damp washcloth until pain stops. No scaring will occur.

• Go the lot and make a calf get up and defecate.  Put the feces in a flour sack and cover the burn with it.  Leave it on until the next morning.

• Apply strong tea to the burned area

Cancer - Preventing

• Eat three almonds a day and you will not die from cancer.

Chills

• Take a new broom and sweep across his back in the sign of a cross.

Colds - Curing

• Catching leaves in your hand, which fall from the trees in the fall, will cure a head cold.

Colds – Preventing

• Eat an onion sandwich and wash your hair.

Colic

• Close the windows and doors of the baby’s room and have the father keep smoking a pipe or cigar.

Coughs

• Put some cow dung in water and bring it to a boil.  Gargle the water three times a day and your cough will be gone.

• Bake onions and pour all the juice from the baked onions into a glass and drink.

Crick in the Neck

• Go down to the hog pen and find where a hog has rubbed his neck against the fence, then rub your neck in the same spot.

Croup

• Pack sheep droppings into a tobacco sack and soak in warm water.  Apply the sack to your neck and wear it until the choking spell is over.

Cuts

• Pack the cut in axle grease.

• Take a large army ant and apply him to the cut, so that he takes hold of each side of the wound with his pincers.  Cut his head off from his body, leaving his head to hold the cut together.
• Apply spider’s web to a bleeding cut.

Continued Next Page

Note:  These are just for fun!  While these were actually published in old books, we do not recommend that you try them!  They actually could be dangerous!

Blue's Cure, 1899.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Cowboys and the Wild West: An A-Z Guide From The Chisholm Trail To The Silver Screen by Don Cusic

Cowboys and the Wild West comprise a folklore that is uniquely American -- as much a part of American history and culture as the signing of the Declaration of Independence or baseball. Annie Oakley, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson hearken back to the days of saloons, frontier justice and quick draws. singing cowboys, TV cowboys, Old West musicals, and film westerns are the modern incarnations. But whether at the real O.K. Corral or on the screen at the local movie theater, the tales, characters and spirit remain the same: colorful, vibrant and folksy.