THIS IS AMERICA – December 16, 2002: Visiting a Dude Ranch
By Paul Thompson
12 Dec 2002
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Thousands of holiday visitors come to the United States each year. Many visit cities like New York, Washington,
San Francisco or Miami. Others come to the United States to visit the American West. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. We tell about holiday vacations in the American West on the Special English program,
THIS IS AMERICA.
VOICE ONE:
Here is a list of some eating and drinking places that have bands playing country
and western music. They are the ”Lone Star Café,” the “Chuck Wagon,” and
the “Yellowstone.
”
If I asked where these places might be, you might guess Texas, Montana, Nevada or
some other western American state. Would you be suprised to learn that they are all
in the city of Tokyo, Japan?
If I said “Laredo,” you might know that Laredo is a city in the American state of Texas. Did you know there is
another small western town with the same name near London, England?
Lubbock is also a city in Texas. But you can find a Lubbock Town in the German province of Westphalia, not far
from the city of Cologne.
VOICE TWO:
The culture of the old American West is extremely popular in many parts of the world. American television
programs about the Old West are very popular. People who have read or seen movies about the West often want
to learn more.
Some people come together to form organizations that study the history and culture of the old American West.
In Europe, that interest began with the extremely popular books of German writer Karl May (MY). Karl May
wrote a series of books about the American West. The books followed the adventures of two men -- a Mescalaro
Apache named Winnnetou (VIN-AH-TOO) and his white friend, Old Shatterhand. Mister May finished his series
of Western adventures in eighteen-ninety-three. More than one-hundred-million of Karl May’s books have been
sold in more than thirty languages.
VOICE ONE:
Yet Karl May (MY) only visited the United States after he finished writing his series of books. And he never
traveled further west than the city of Buffalo, New York.
Karl May made many mistakes in his books. He knew very little about the real American West. But the stories he
wrote were good and millions of readers do not care about the mistakes. Having read the popular books of Karl
May is one of the reasons that many people spend their holidays in the American West.
VOICE TWO:
Howdy!
(All photos - 1880sranch.com)
Those who visit the real American West often stay at places called dude ranches. A ranch is a kind of western
farm. A dude ranch charges visitors money to stay and help work on the ranch. Or visitors can learn to ride and
care for a horse. They can dance to country and western music, eat western foods and explore the surrounding
areas.
Many visitors also buy western clothes to wear. They like to wear the famous American cowboy hat and cowboy
boots. A good cowboy hat and a good pair of boots can cost several hundred dollars each. You can even buy a
new cowboy hat that is made to look very old and well used.
VOICE ONE:
The Dude Ranchers’
Association is an organization of American ranches that provide a western holiday for
people who enjoy horse riding and learning about the western United States. Marcia Williams is the director of
the association. Mizz Williams says the association has one-hundred-twenty-four member ranches. They are in
most of the western United States.
Some ranches have as few as eight guests at one time while others have as many as one-hundred-twenty guests
each week. Some of these western ranches permit visitors all year while others have visitors only in the summer
months.
Mizz Williams says most foreign visitors who vacation at member ranches come from Britain. This is followed
by visitors from Germany and Italy. She says it is not unusual to see a person dressed like an American cowboy
and speaking English with a German or Italian accent.
VOICE TWO:
Dude ranch experts say about four-hundred ranches can provide the experience of living in the American West.
An example is the Eighteen-Eighties Ranch in the northwestern state of Montana. It is a new Dude Ranch and a
little different from many others. The Eighteen-Eighties Ranch is really a small town, very similar to several that
were found in the American West during the eighteen-eighties.
What is the ranch really like? Come with us for a few minutes while we visit this unusual place.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
We are in Montana now. Montana is forever linked to the old culture of the American West. The Little Big Horn
battlefield is here. That is where General George Custer was defeated by the Lakota and the Cheyenne Indians.
Many other famous Indian tribes lived here too -- the Blackfeet, the Crow, the Shoshone. The mighty Missiouri
River crosses much of Montana. The famous Lewis and Clark exploration team used this river to first travel
through the American West.
The Eighteen-Eighties Ranch is high in the Rocky Mountains near the imaginary line that divides the North
American continent. A nearby mountain is more than three- thousand meters tall. This is what is called “big sky
country”
in Montana. The air here is fresh and clean. You can smell the trees and grass. The sky is a sharp blue
color.
The Eighteen-Eighties Ranch includes a kind of hotel called a boarding house. Next door is a drinking place
called a saloon. Just down the street is a large Indian temporary cloth house called a tipi. Another place to stay is
an Indian house made of wood called a bark lodge.
One house is made of logs and is called a log cabin. Another house is made of dirt
that is held together by grass that has been growing for hundreds of years. This kind
of very thick grass is called sod. The house is called a sod house or soddy.
Visitors to the Eighteen-Eighties Ranch can stay in any
of these places. Each may look like it is more than one-
hundred years old. But they all have modern equipment
inside, including electric power, water and modern
bathrooms.
VOICE TWO:
We have sent a request to the ranch to stay in the sod
house. American settlers in the West often built this
kind of house because it cost almost nothing. All it
took was extremely hard work. The dirt and grass sod is several meters thick. Each
piece had to be cut and lifted out of the ground. These pieces were cut and fit
together to make a warm, dry home. You could build a sod house any size you wanted. The one at the ranch is
small but comfortable.
The walls of the little sod house have been painted white inside. Our room is bright and clean. This little house is
extremely unusual. Once, thousands of sod houses could be seen across the old American West. The little sod
house at the Eighteen-Eighties Ranch may be one of the last. It is truly a piece of American history.
VOICE ONE:
Now we will go to the store to buy a cowboy hat and western clothes. It takes only a few minutes to buy what we
need. After changing clothes in our sod house, we look like real American cowboys or cowgirls. Now, with our
new hats and clothes, we can ride horses into Montana’s high country.
We can choose among many different trails. We can ride far back into the surrounding mountains to the high
mountain lakes. Or we can stay close to the ranch in nearby Levengood Gulch. Or we can ride to Lost Creek
Trail.
We can ride and explore thousands of hectares of land. When the day is done, we return to the ranch. Dinner
tonight will be a western barbecue. That is beef cooked over a fire, the way it was done in the old West.
We planned to stay at the Eighteen-Eighties Ranch for a week. The price we paid includes horse riding, three
meals each day, entertainment and transportation to and from the airport in Butte, Montana.
Our visit has ended and we experienced a little of what it was like to be a cowboy in the eighteen-hundreds. The
unusual buildings at the Eighteen-Eighties Ranch provided us with a history lesson. We learned to ride and care
for a horse. And, best of all, we lived deep in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. We will always remember the big
sky country of Montana and the American West.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This VOA Special English program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Cynthia Kirk. I’m
Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another program about life in the United States on the
Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
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