On one of his adventures, Pecos Bill lassoed a tornado. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Born from the imagination of southwestern cowboys during America’s westward expansion, Pecos Bill personifies the frontier virtues of courage, strength, and humor. The mythical folk hero, first written about in 1917 by Edward O’Reilly, is said to have been based on tales told by range hands at the end of a long day of tending cattle and is in the same spirit as other “Big” characters, such as Paul Bunyan or John Henry. O’Reilly would publish these writings in the 1923 book, “Saga of Pecos Bill.”
Pecos Bill.
Personifying the frontier spirit of the American West, the legendary “man” displayed superhuman feats that grew with each telling as more writers added their embellishments in later writings. Ol’ Bill even made it to the big screen in Disney movies, including 1995’s “Tall Tale” with Patrick Swayze.
As the legend goes, Pecos Bill was born in the 1830s and was the youngest of 18 children of a Texas pioneer. He was so tough even as a baby that he used a Bowie knife as a teething ring and, as a toddler, made wild animals his playmates. When he was very young, he fell out of his parents’ wagon as they crossed the Pecos River and was swept away by the current. Coyotes rescued him, and the boy was raised by the wild animals.
Years later, when his brother found him living with the coyotes, he had to convince him he wasn’t a coyote himself. When Bill returned to civilization, he became an excellent cowhand, credited with inventing the branding iron, the lasso, and cowboy songs to soothe the cattle, among many other valuable tips and tricks. He also appeared in other tales as a railroad man, a buffalo hunter, and an oilfield worker.
But bigger than his work ethic and skills were the tales of phenomenal feats, such as riding a cyclone, roping an entire herd at once, using a rattlesnake as a whip, and harnessing the Rio Grande to water his ranch. He was so tough that he often rode a mountain lion rather than his favorite horse, the Widow-Maker, whose favorite food was Dynamite.
Somewhere along the line, ole’ Pecos Bill met and courted a woman named Slue-Foot Sue, who he found riding down the Rio Grande on a catfish as large as a whale. During their courtship, Pecos Bill did his legendary best to impress her by shooting out all the stars from the sky except one, the Lone Star. He wins her over, but Slue-Foot insists on riding Widow Maker, who doesn’t like the fact that he has to compete with her for Bill’s attention. Widow Maker bounces her so hard she keeps bouncing to the moon. Whether Slue-Foot Sue ever stopped bouncing depends on the story you’re reading.
Pecos Bill.
There are many more tall tales of Pecos Bill, including one version of his ultimate demise. The story goes that as Bill was getting older, a man from Boston came down to New Mexico for a visit. The Yankee thought himself a bit of a cowboy, so he gussied up in a mail-order suit that included lizard-skin boots, a new pair of blue jeans, a shiny brass belt buckle, and a clean-as-a-whistle 10-gallon hat. When Pecos Bill saw the Yankee swagger into a bar, ol’ Bill lay down on the sidewalk and laughed himself to death.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Folklore & Superstition in America
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