The mission of "The Spirit of The West" is to preserve the heritage of the American Cowboy and the pioneer values that distinguish our nation's history. The legends of the American West and cowboy culture are romanticized and passed on through stories, songs, poetry, and rodeo yet today. In the absence of law and order in the unsettled West, cowboys and frontier families practiced unwritten laws which are known as the "Code of the West". As we pioneer new frontiers, the Cowboy Gathering here in Ellensburg, Washington strives to perpetuate those same values of honesty, self-reliance, and consideration of others, thus passing on the cowboy code to future generations.