Jigger Boss – Bill Nebeker

Jigger Boss - Bill Nebeker

Limited Edition

10″H x 7″W x 5″D

Bill gets the opportunity to work on ranches around the country during the annual Cowboy Artists of America trailride, and on outfits owned by his friends in Arizona. On some of the larger outfits there is the owner, forman, a “wagonboss” and under him is the

“Jigger Boss”. The Jigger Boss sends out a crew of cowboys for each day’s work while they are “out on the wagon”.

The term originated in the days of building rail tracks, digging canals and hard rock mining when the youngest member of the crew, probably just a boy, was given the responsibility to carry and distribute each worker daily allotement of whiskey corresponding to the type of job the worker did. The jigger boss was exating at his job, or he would pay a high price with his hide.