Birthday at the Cow Parade - 3/6/1917

El Paso, Tex.

Mar. 5, 1917.

My Dear Mother: - 

Yours of the 28th rec. Hope you got moved O.K. Be careful and do not work too hard.

Tomorrow I'll be 19 years old, and I suppose I'll celebrate by taking part in a a big parade. All the troops in this district are to be reviewed, and will also take part in the Cow. (?) Puncher's (?) Exposition Parade. The Expo takes place from the 7th to the 11th. 

I put on my civilian clothes tonight and "sneaked" out of camp, and went down to the Fire Sta: Capt. Sullivan is out of the city for 5 days, as a witness for a murder trial.

Took a good cleaning out today with epson salts, and feel fine as silk.

I suppose the Troop D Boys were glad to get home. It still looks as though we would get out of here by the last of the month. I hope nothing comes up to delay us in our return.

Owing to the parade tomorrow we have to get up at 5A.M. so will close and turn in.

Love to All
Howard

The above photo from the El Paso Library archives is titled "Soldiers parading north on S El Paso Street passing through Pioneer Plaza". There is no date listed, but the description of the parade route matches the El Paso Times for 1917, so it's a pretty good guess.

I had a hard time deciphering exactly what Howard called the parade in his letter, so I looked up more about it in the El Paso times. I didn't find the exact words that he used, but the official convention name was the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockmen's Association. Over 1,000 visitors came to El Paso from across the Southwest to talk cow business, I guess. Whatever it was, it was a big deal to El Paso. Here's the article.

Despite having to get up at 5am, I think that Howard probably did enjoy his birthday. The newspaper described the atmosphere of the Expo as similar to Mardi Gras, so I would imagine that his fellow guardsmen probably helped him find some fun. After all, his body was nice and clean after those epsom salts!

This is the first letter addressed to Howard's mother at her new address on Glenwood Avenue. I was much more pleased with my Google street view search this around. Kudos to the current owners for allowing me to actually imagine by great-great grandparents living there in 1917.