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The Cattle Kingdom
Cowhands
Cow Towns
Cattle Boom
Creating a Cattle Kingdom Before the whites arrived in the west, the
Mexicans set up ranches– Strays from these ranches formed their own
herds called longhorns
After the war, the demand for beef went up– Eastern cities, miners, railroad crews, farmers
Texas ranchers began rounding up herds of longhorns and drove the animals hundreds of miles north to railroad lines in Kansas and Missouri called cattle drives
Chisholm Trail Jesse Chisholm was a half
Scottish half Cherokee man who made a cattle trail
In the 1860’s he began hauling goods by wagon between TX and KS Pacific Railroad
In 1867 ranchers began using this route
Within 5 years, more than 1 million cattle were driven on this route
Life of a Cowhand American cowhands learned from Spanish
vaqueros (skilled riders who herded cattle on ranches in Mexico, CA, and the SW)– Lariat, chaparreras, etc.
Days could last 18 hours– Hot, tiring, dirty– Worked in all weather and faced dangers like
thunderstorms, rattlesnakes, drowning, and stampedes
– Usually earned about $1 a day (low)
The first American cowboys adopted a number of Mexican
traditions and words, including chaps
The Cow Towns Cattle drives ended in cow towns – cattle
were held in great pens until they could be loaded into railroad cars and shipped to markets in the east– Ex: Abilene, TX or Dodge City, KS
Had dance halls, saloons, hotels, restaurants, barber shops, banks, churches– Sheriffs tried to keep the peace
Main street was where business was conducted
The Cattle Boom
1870’s ranches spread from Texas to the Plains called the Cattle Kingdom
Millions of dollars were invested in the area that created a boom
Cattle were allowed to grange on the open range and were branded to identify them
The End of the Cattle Kingdom
Barbed wire Range began to disappear used fences Not enough grass to feed the cattle Need to buy feed and land pushed up costs Diseases like “Texas fever” destroyed
herds Cold winters of 1886 and 1887 Heat and drought