Life on a ranch in the 21st century is a huge jump from the 1930’s. You would not believe the look of a ranch in the 1930’s compared to now in modern day California, where ranches look beautiful, with the vegetables and livestock flourishing. Back in the 30’s, workers would leave their families and loved ones to come work on ranches, just to make ends meet. But ranches nowadays have wonderful scenery, and can also have fun activities like horse-riding or rodeos. Ranch owners usually possess a ranch from their family line, where it gets passed down from generation to generation. Living on a ranch nowadays is nothing compared to the harsh environment with the life on ranch during the 1930’s. Ranch life in the 1930’s was a significant part in American …show more content…
These workers were called “migrant workers”. Typically workers from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and poor countries with low employment came on this trek. Workers during this time were selfish and did whatever they could to survive and find work. Life on the ranch was a time of loneliness and depression. Although workers looked forward to working in the fields, it wasn’t exactly what the landowners had them do. Workers also had to struggle with unfair cruelty from their landowners, scarceness of food and shelter, and much more. Some workers were even underpaid. The conditions of the bunkhouses workers lived in were filthy, and sometimes contained lice, termites, and rodents. This period of time showed a perfect example of how badly the American economy can be flawed. This ranch problem was finally cleared up when World War II was active, as it called for soldiers in war against Germany and their allies. Modern day ranching typically happens in the American West, because of the sunny days and coastal breeze from the ocean. Ranch life involves dealing with horses, cows, and livestock in general. Big trucks also play a big role in the fields on a ranch. Physical
...to Americans: if their prospects in the East were poor, then they could perhaps start over in the West as a farmer, rancher, or even miner. The frontier was also romanticized not only for its various opportunities but also for its greatly diverse landscape, seen in the work of different art schools, like the “Rocky Mountain School” and Hudson River School, and the literature of the Transcendentalists or those celebrating the cowboy. However, for all of this economic possibility and artistic growth, there was political turmoil that arose with the question of slavery in the West as seen with the Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act. As Frederick Jackson Turner wrote in his paper “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” to the American Historical Association, “the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.”
As history cascades through an hourglass, the changing, developmental hands of time are shrouded throughout American history. This ever-changing hourglass of time is reflected in the process of maturation undertaken by western America in the late nineteenth century. Change, as defined by Oxford’s Dictionary, is “To make or become different through alteration or modification.” The notion of change is essential when attempting to unwind the economic make-up of Kansas in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Popular culture often reveres the American cowboy, which has led him to become the predominate figure in America’s “westering” experience (Savage, p3). However, by 1880 the cowboy had become a mythical figure rather than a presence in western life. The era of the cowboy roaming the Great Plains had past and farmers now sought to become the culturally dominant figure and force in the American West. Unlike the cowboys, farmers were able to evolved, organizing and establishing the Populist Party. The farmers’ newly formed political organization provided them with a voice, which mandated western reform. Furthermore, the populist ideas spread quickly and dominated western thought in the 1880’s and 1890’s. The period of the 1880’s and 1890’s marked the end of the American cowboy and gave farmers a political stronghold that would forever impact the modernization of the West.
Reminiscing is almost like a hobby for people, to be lost within another world of nostalgia and simplicity is something we all yearn for as we grow up. We miss those days of less and full understanding, of active and worn out adventures of children, of anxious anticipation of a the flat lands. Debra Marquart in her 2006 memoir “The Horizontal World” illustrates those memories in a hint of nostalgia. Through the use of imagery, allusions, and satirical yet nostalgic tone Marquart’s memoir demonstrates a lucid dream of North Dakota as an area of no interest that yet emboldens an American ideal of the Jeffersonian farming could occur for those who are willing to take up the offer.
When looking at the vast lands of Texas after the Civil War, many different people came to the lands in search for new opportunities and new wealth. Many were lured by the large area that Texas occupied for they wanted to become ranchers and cattle herders, of which there was great need for due to the large population of cows and horses. In this essay there are three different people with three different goals in the adventures on the frontier lands of Texas in its earliest days. Here we have a woman's story as she travels from Austin to Fort Davis as we see the first impressions of West Texas. Secondly, there is a very young African American who is trying his hand at being a horse rancher, which he learned from his father. Lastly we have a Mexican cowboy who tries to fight his way at being a ranch hand of a large ranching outfit.
They often work with farmers to obtain and maintain the proper equipment necessary to complete farming tasks. Ranch managers must ensure that the livestock complies with government regulations and is being grown to market standards. Ranch managers work with heavy equipment and large animals such as cows and horses, which are unpredictable. The Livestock must be cared for year-round and each day, it is not uncommon for them to work excessive hours through the week, weekend, and holidays. They must schedule many tasks within a week and are often required to multitask. Tasks required by ranch managers are often overwhelming and have to be performed through all hours of the day and night, so you must have a strong work ethic and be responsible enough to become a great ranch manager. Their job demands a great deal of physical work, mechanical skills, and endurance. Ranch managers also work with other ranch hands to ensure each job or task has been completed in a timely manner. Time is an important factor in farming and requires hands-on work to fulfil the link to final completion. Endurance plays a major role in this profession. They must endure the strenuous labor to complete their work often under very hard circumstances such as the weather. They oversee each step so safety rules are followed and required regulations are met. In an article by Environmental Science, “the ranch manager careers focus on strategic
The Mexican Migrant Farm Workers’ community formed in Southern California in the 20th century because of two factors that came together: farming emphasized by migrations like the Okie farmers from the East and Mexicans “imported” to the U.S. because of the need for cheap labor as a replacement of Americans during World War II. The migrant labor group formed after an already similar group in the U.S had been established in California, the American farm workers from the East, known as the Okies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused the movement of the Okies to the West and was followed by the transition from American dominant farm labor to Mexican migrant labor. The Okies reinforced farming in California through the skills they took with them, significant to the time period that Mexicans arrived to California in greater numbers. However, the community was heightened by World War II from 1939 to 1945, which brought in immigrants to replace Americans that left to fight in the battlefields. Robin A. Fanslow, archivist at the Library of Congress, argues that because of World War II, “those who were left behind took advantage of the job opportunities that had become available in [the] West Coast” (Fanslow). Although some Mexican migrants already lived in the U.S prior to this event, a vast majority arrived at the fields of California specifically to work as farmers through the Bracero Program, created because of the Second World War. Why the Second World War and not the First World War? WWII urgently demanded labor and Mexico was the United States’ closest resource. Although WWI also caused the U.S. to have a shortage of labor; at the time, other minorities dominated, like the Chinese and Japanese.
Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso 1880-1920 analyzes and discusses the Mexican immigrants to El Paso, Texas. The most western city of the vast state of Texas, a city in the edge of the Chihuahuan desert; a place too far away from many regions of the United States, but as Mario García explains a very important city during the development of the western United States. He begins explaining how El Paso’s proximity to different railroads coming from México and the United States converged there, which allowed El Paso to become an “instant city”, as mining, smelting, and ranching came to region. (García 2)
New technologies not only allowed farming to become more efficient, but made the process of shipping crops west much easier. The most important innovation in farming itself was the horse-drawn combine, which required many horses to operate, but allowed wheat, a popular crop to grow in the west, to be harvested en masse. (Document D) However, railroads were also incredibly important for farmers, as they allowed Wheat, cotton, and corn to be transported across the country
The effect from both the Dust Bowl drought and the Great Depression made it hard on farmers in the early 1900’s; it was hard for farmers to produce crops (“The Ultimate AP US History”). Farmers with small businesses were forced to end
Chisholm Trail When the railroads moved west to the Great Plains, the "Cattle Boom" began. Southern Texas became a major ranching area with the raising of longhorn cattle from Mexico. Cattle was branded by the rawhides who guarded them on horseback on the ranges. Before the Civil War, small herds of Texas cattle were driven by the cowboys to New Orleans, some as far west as California, and some to the north over the Shawnee Trail.
The Roaring Twenties approached and the citizens in Colorado were facing rough times. In 1920, many people such as farm owners, manufacturers, and even miners were having a hard time making a living due to an economic downfall. The farmers especially, where facing the toughest of times. The price of various farm-grown goods like wheat, sugar beets, and even cattle was dropping because their goods were no longer needed by the public. Wheat had dropped in price from $2.02 in 1918 to $0.76 by the time 1921 came around. Sadly, the land that they were using to grow wheat became dry and many farmers had to learn to grow through “dryland farming” which became very popular in the eastern plains from 1910 to 1930 (Hard Times: 1920 - 1940). Apple trees began to die due to the lack of desire for apples, poor land, and decreased prices. Over the course of World War I, the prices of farm goods began to increase slowly. Farmers were not the only one facing this economic hardship while others in big cities were enjoying the Roaring Twenties.
In the interior, the desire to control house herds - a critical resource in California was the reason for American trappers, horse thieves, Mexican soldiers and rancheros congregate. Sutter’s connection to an Indian woman (p. 39)
The Dust Bowl was a rough time for farmers in the 1930’s. The Dust Bowl was a drought that had many dust storms involved, which lasted about a decade.
These tenements lacked in many ways, including space and sanitation. Due to the packed conditions, diseases spread rapidly. Overall, the housing of the working class was unpleasant and many fell ill to diseases because the risk of developing a disease in a cramped environment was higher. In Document 2, it is evident that the tenements were not an ideal living space. Document 6 portrays that factories were ideally designed for the machines and not for the workers, and as a result the working conditions were also harsh.
Thompson, Paul B. and Stout, Bill A. Beyond The Large Farm. Westview Press, Inc.: Colorado 1991