Our story begins in Pecos County, Texas. The name “Pecos” derives from the Pecos River, the county’s boundary on the north and east. (Not to be confused with Pecos, Texas, the town.) Uncertain of the origin of the name, the Pecos River has a haunting history for the Texas Cowboy.
“The Pecos—the graveyard of the cowman’s hopes…I hated it!” - famous cattle driver Charles Goodnight.
With its headwaters 11,750 feet high, originating in the Sanger de Cristo range in northern New Mexico, some might think the river looked more like heaven than hell to a Texas cowboy. However, it quickly changes as it strikes Texas as the lone river in an arid empire. Spanning three hundred miles wide, it slithers through the forbidding desert flats, carving mighty rock-walled canyons until it intersects the Rio Grande at the Mexico border.
The Pecos River would quickly become known as the most formidable and treacherous river in the West.
It was crowned “the cowboy’s paradise” by the San Angelo Standard in 1886. Anyone who knows the history of the Pecos River understands it is quite the contrary, almost laughably so. The fierce life of the Pecos cowboy set the bar high for any modern-day cowboy to follow. This set the stage for many notable cowboy stories, real and fictional. So much so, that Hollywood made a movie about one of the most notable moments in cowboy history – the Goodnight Loving cattle drive, better known to most as Lonesome Dove.
The movie follows Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving in 1866 as they drove nearly 2,000 head to Fort Sumner, New Mexico to sell them to the Federal government to fill a contract for beef on the same Bosque Redondo Indian reservation.
The herd hit Horsehead Crossing on, or about, July 3rd or 4th, 1866, after going nearly 80 miles without water—one of the largest and longest cattle drives of its kind.
Historian J. Evette Haley recounts the trails along the Pecos as...
“Dangers and uncertainties—long dry drives that set cattle mad with thirst and drew saddle horses to ‘skin and bones’; alkaline lakes that poisoned and killed thirsting herds; malaise ridges that cut hoofs to the quick and set the riders afoot; and the eternal threat of loss to white and Indian thieves.”
Classic and functional in both shape and design, the Pecos buckle features a round hand-forged buckle head that provides a perfect canvas for customizing and engraving. Then, you accent this look with either one or two keepers (personal preference) to keep the tail of your belt in check. A perfectly curated scalloped tip completes the sterling silver buckle set.
The Pecos buckle is tough enough for the working cowboy yet beautifully designed to tell the story of a hard day's work. It adds a touch of Western elegance to your outfit.
Below is our Pecos 2056 design – the perfect combination of beauty and resilience. This four-piece sterling silver buckle set features our signature gun engraving. With all pieces engraved by hand in our matte finish, this buckle highlights each deep relief cut made by every stroke of our engraver's hand.
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