Background : When did 'Last Cowboy' die ?

[Hide]

Well, you could have a 7-year-old cowboy. That is old enough to have a good memory of the event, especially if everybody talks about it. My grandparents were cowboys, at that age you are expected to help in the ranch, by the way.

And for real life people born in the late 1800 and surviving up to the 1990’s, you could check this list of war veterans (esp. 19th & 20th centuries).

[Racer]

Yes of course . Henry Allingham 112 , Harry Patch 110 & Bill Stone 108 , all attended London 2008 Remembrance Day to lay wreaths :

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ions-fell.html

And Jeanne Louise Calment (21st February 1875 – 4th August 1997) , who was last living person to have met Van Gogh in around 1888 . " He was very grubby and smelled of drink , when my father and I met him in a shop . " she recalled at 115 .

[Daigoro]

I'd have trouble believing someone could remember much detail about a location they visited when they were 12. I remember going on hiking trips and camping holidays around that age, but I wouldn't be able to find most of them on a map (apart from the names of some towns I remember.)

Instead, maybe he or one of his companions made some charcoal sketches of landmarks that could then be identified from aerial or satellite images, or they got a group photo to celebrate the moment with some landmarks in the background.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I'd have trouble believing someone could remember much detail about a location they visited when they were 12. I remember going on hiking trips and camping holidays around that age, but I wouldn't be able to find most of them on a map (apart from the names of some towns I remember.)

If its memorable enough, I'd trust a 12 year old's memory, at least of the immediate location.

a six or seven year old... not so much. When I was six, my family moved. I returned to that city for college, and was shocked to discover that the two ways up the big hill to go home where actually on opposite sides of town, on two different hills.

[Daigoro]

Note that it's somewhere he visited once in the middle of a snowstorm, and he has to remember when he's 100. I do have stronger memories of places I lived or often visited.

[Racer]

Depends on the individual .
I'm high functioning Aspie with near eidetic memory for things that interest me . I've stunned my maternal Aunt & Uncle (12 & 15 years older than me) by recalling my Grandparents's GP (Doctor) from we all lived in same house . Details of his office , glasses , hairy hands , kindness & patience with me . He even let me play with a spare stethoscope . This is all before my third birthday & was confirmed by my Mother .

Also recall with perfect clarity watching various episodes of original Doctor Who in 1970's . Checking dates of original broadcast on Wikipedia , I was only 28 months old .

Not quite up there with Sheldon Cooper , but not far off ! Other stuff like songs sung in Nursery School word for word from age 4-5 , and entire thirty minute script from Infants School play aged 6 .

I was banned from playing with original Trivial Pursuit card set , as I memorized almost all questions & answers ...

Various incidents from my days at boarding school (aged 11 to 17) have been posted on old pupils Facebook page . Including dialogue , Term , parties involved & accurate account of what happened . My good friend LowDecker could give you the exact DATE something had occurred ! We constantly get asked " how the hell do you remember these things ! "

My Maternal Grandfather would walk with me through various local areas given details of his early childhood . He left area aged 9 & returned to UK & local area with family in his sixties . He was relaying info to me now in his 80s . Little details like a certain patch of trees , place to fish for brown troat on local river & outcrops of flints by a hill he'd used to make fire with .
I showed my Nephews location of flint outcrop a couple of years ago - and warned them not to start any fires ...

[Polydamas]

Trauma can also cement memory. In late medieval England, there was a custom of delaying corporal punishment for a few days if there was a big contract to be signed such as a wedding. The hope was that the victim would remember that day especially well if witnesses were needed!

You could also use an old magnetic tape or VHS of an interview with the survivor as the source of information. That could allow scenes of MacGuffin hunting and of tracking down the eccentric expert in repairing degraded analog media, and you only have to assume survivors in the 1970s or 1980s. Documentaries in general, and in the 1960s 1970s and 1980s in particular tend to have quick-and-dirty research so don't assume that the documentary provided the interviewee with everything a team of research assistants could have provided (or that the juicy bits are in the final released footage).

The thread title makes me want to say that there have been cowboys since we figured out how to ride horses well enough to use them in herding, they did not go away at some point.

[RyanW]

I can pretty clearly remember several places around Danville, VA, despite only spending two days there thirty one years ago.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Racer

Depends on the individual .
I'm high functioning Aspie with near eidetic memory for things that interest me .

Originally Posted by RyanW

I can pretty clearly remember several places around Danville, VA, despite only spending two days there thirty one years ago.

Interesting. I am curious, though, if you can do the exercise posited above. That is, reliably locate a place in the wilderness, that is some distance from any roads or modern landmarks, that you might have visited as a child or teenager, using Google Maps in Satellite View.

I do concede that the experience of modern travel, riding in a car or bus at great speed driven by someone else that discharges you directly at your destination, differs a lot from that of slowly finding your way on horseback through wild terrain, which would make more of an impression on the mind. Still, I think you'd have to be lucky with your natural landmarks- a gorge coming down to a bend in a river, a particularly shaped lake, or something otherwise remarkable- to be able to find it on an aerial map.

For other ideas, perhaps the cowboy has some souvenir from the location which can narrow down or uniquely identify it, such as a piece of rock which only occurs in that area. I understand there's a kind of tree that grows at high altitudes in Oregon with a twisting grain in its trunk to resist the strong winds present on mountaintops, so maybe the cowboy remembers coming across some trees that were impossible to cut with their axes.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Interesting. I am curious, though, if you can do the exercise posited above. That is, reliably locate a place in the wilderness, that is some distance from any roads or modern landmarks, that you might have visited as a child or teenager, using Google Maps in Satellite View.

.

It s not actually necessary for one person to complete both ends of the exercise.

If your cowboy is using Eidetic Memory to emulate Absolute Direction his description of how he got to a specific place his recollection (which can be recorded at a time that does not have to extend into the satellite age) will consist of a highly specific if soemwhat arbbitray list of landmarks

That"s how I do it anywya. at any given time I can easily have no clue what direction North is but I remember how I got to wherever I am now.

This list of non-distinct but specific landmarks might nto help a lot of people after him but soemone in 2020 with a _lot_ of photographs and soem mapping software might be able to reconstruct the route just from the verbal directions.

Satellite photos might not be the most helpful things though. Ground level photos might work better.