Folklore: Soogans (Soogams, Sugams, Sugans, etc.)

Subject: Folklore: Soogans (Soogams, Sugams, Sugans, etc.)
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 09:58 PM

Soogans (and various other spellings) were the quilts that cowboys, especially in the northern tier of the US, used inside their tarp bedrolls. My wife and a friend are currently researching soogans, and I've provided her with several references from my very own personal library (Ramon Adams, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle", and some others).

I suspect that because the bedroll was often tied with rope and served as a chair, the word comes from the Irish "sugan."

Does anyone have any other information or, best of all, an actual surviving soogan or two?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Soogans (Soogams, Sugams, Sugans, etc.)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 11:07 PM

"A soogan, which is pronounced 'sow-gan' as in 'sow a lawn,' not as in female swine, and not 'sue-gan,' as a lot of folks pronounce it, is your bedroll. That and your warbag--which could be anything from an old feedsack to a fairly fancy valise--was everything you carried on a traildrive that you didn't wear or have in your saddlebags.
TexasCharley "

Found this on another site, Rap.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Soogans (Soogams, Sugams, Sugans, etc.)
From: GUEST,New Zealand
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 02:44 AM

There is a reference to sugan in the book by Kenneth Swan
"Splendid was the trail".

His was filled with "linder"