The Cattle Boom in Wyoming
The Cattle Boom was also present in Wyoming, especially after cattle ranchers discovered that cattle could survive winters in Wyoming. Cheyenne, Wyoming had an estimated number of 60,000 cattle grazing within 100 miles of the town in 1871 (Western). As demand for beef continued to grow and the U.S. government continued to buy cattle to feed the Indian tribes they had displaced, wealth and cattle in Wyoming also continued to grow (Western). There were more than 476,000 reported heads of cattle in Wyoming in 1882, which usually meant there was closer to a million on the range. T.A. Larson, a Wyoming historian, estimated 1.5 million cattle in the state in 1886. It was reported that there was not a blade of grass within
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Similar to the other states and territories, Arizona had what they believed was endless open range. Arizona also had a favorable climate that promoted the growth of vegetation. “Perennial grasses blanketed the broad valley floors, betraying no hint of the wide variations in annual rainfall and productivity that would later catch cattlemen unprepared” (Sayre 248). However, in the twenty years of the Cattle Boom, Arizona experienced a tragedy of the commons. The overpopulation of cattle had depleted the vegetation and degraded the …show more content…
Thus, in 1891 rainfall was unable to soak into the compressed soils and new grass was not able to grow in (Guido 2). Yet, the number of cattle was not reduced by the cattle ranchers even when the ecological limits were revealed (Guido 2). The drought continued and devastated the cattle industry, causing 50% – 75% of cattle to perish (Sayre 249). Heavy rains followed in 1889-90, which fell on degraded soils and caused erosion. Fire was also suppressed and caused the invasion of shrubs (Sayre 249).
The drought and drop in the market price of beef caused most of the cattle ranchers to leave Arizona. During the height of the Cattle Boom, ranchers stocked one cow per five acres. However, ranchers in Arizona today stock one cow per 65 acres (Guido 2). Modern day ranchers now are keeping “a keen eye toward future climate challenges, and are tuning their ranch operations to the environment” (Guido 1).
The American West was the land of opportunity for many groups of people from 1865 to 1890. For farmers and ranchers, the American west was a land of opportunity due to low cost of land as a result of the Homestead Act and the a chance for Americans, including immigrants and blacks, to achieve the American dream and make a profit by growing crops such as cotton for the thriving textile industry and raising cattle for the upcoming cattle industry. For the miners, the American West was seen as an opportunity to get rich through the gold and silver rush and was even popular in other parts of the world where immigrants responded to the rush as well; although most were not successful. The America West offered opportunities for Americans, both rich and poor, to establish a new life and achieve economic independence.
Let us begin in the 1500’s this was when Arizona was first explored by the Spanish. In 1539 Arizona was claimed for Spain by Marcos de Niza. The first Spanish settlers were established in 1752 in Tubac. There were many revolts from two tribes Pima and Papago. In 1821 Mexico acquires military control over Arizona. The United States won the Mexican war in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States most of Arizona. The rest of the state was given to the United States in 1853 by the Gadsden Purchase. Arizona discovered Copper in 1854. Arizona became a state on Valentine’s Day in 1912. This states name comes from the "Spanish word Arizonac. This term means little spring" (Bright, 2004, p. 47). The states motto became “Ditat Deus” which translates to “God enriches”.
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.
On March 10, 1892 the Billings Gazette reported, “The opening of spring may be more red than green for the horse thieves and cattle thieves of Johnson County” (Brash, 143). The writer of the article could little have known how truthful their premonition would prove to be. The late 1800’s were turbulent times in the West. Large tracts of publicly held range ground would be at the center of Wyoming’s very own civil war. Gil Bollinger, author and western researcher, reports that by the 1870’s and 1880’s fencing of land to enclose both crops and water sources was common (Bollinger, 81). This practice, however, was still illegal according to the federal government. In 1877, the United States Government sued Swan Land and Cattle Company, in an effort to set an example that all fences on open range must come down (Bollinger, 81). The fencing of lands was a major problem, as agricultural producers needed open access to the limited resources, especially water. Johnson County, in northern Wyoming, was an agricultural nucleus for cattle and sheep producers who knew the lush grass and good water supply would greatly benefit their operations. Since fencing was illegal, these resources were available to everyone. Cattle operators, large and small alike, ran their livestock loose and participated in large roundups once a year where all the cattle were branded. Slick calves, called mavericks, were often unrightfully claimed. Lack of fencing made any free ranging livestock available to whoever was devious enough to take them (Smith, 25).
Petrified Forest National Park is located in the Painted Desert in northeastern Arizona taking up 93,532.57 acres of its land. Before the national park was established, it was founded as a National Monument on December 8, 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. Years later, the Congress passed a bill and established it as a national park on December 9, 1962. Centuries before Petrified Forest National Park was preserved as a national park, the land was preoccupied by the Paleo people. At the onset of the end of the last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers, people who lived by hunting game and only gathering edible plants, roamed the Southwest from 13,500 to 8000 B.C. Although these people enjoy meals consisting of meat and vegetables, they don’t raise livestock and grow crops. During these years of hunting and gathering, the region was cooler with a grassland environment, and people gathered wild plants for food and hunted bison and other large herd of animals. The types of bison these people hunted are now extinct. Nomads used a device called an atlatl to throw their weapons, such as spears and darts, to hunt. By 4000 B.C., during the archaic culture, the climate had changed and became similar to the one of the present. This period of hunting, gathering, and farming had lasted from 8000 to 500 B.C. In contrast to the time of the Paleo people, the climate was warmer, people extended their access to different types of food, and people began to farm and grow their crops. Due to the extinction of animals of the past, people had to expand their source of food, and they had to include many different species of plants and animals into their meals. Two hundred twenty-five million years ago, trees fell and were washe...
Some of the direct effects of the droughts were that many of the farmers’ crops were damaged by deficient rainfall, high temperatures, and high winds, as well as insect infestations and dust storms that accompanied these conditions. What essentially happened was that the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” The constant dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The effects of the drought happened so rapidly and progressively over time that there was very little preparation and planning the farmers could do before having to abandon their homes.
Bison were considered a main part of the American economy. Prior to the Civil War, hunters would trade and sell buffalo hide. Although some were killed for meat, buffalo hide was in higher demand. However, after the Civil War, the extensions of the railroads made it easier to transport hides. The main desiccation of the bison came with the industrial revolution (Manning, WWW). Since machinery became a mainstay in factories, part of maintenance required belting. The demand of hide of bison, therefore, increased since buffalo hide could be used as belts that would drive the machines (Manning, WWW). Within a few decades only a thousand bison were left, after the slaughter of 50 million. The depletion of bison did however spark an interest in conservation and protec...
Altogether, between 1866 and 1888, some six million head of cattle were driven up from Texas to winter on the high plains of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The cattle boom reached its height in 1885, when the range became too heavily pastured to support the long drive, and was beginning to be crisscrossed by railroads. Not far behind the rancher creaked the covered wagons of the farmers bringing their families, their draft horses, cows and pigs. Under the Homestead Act they staked their claims and fenced them with a new invention, barbed wire. Ranchers were ousted from lands they had roamed without legal title. Soon the romantic "Wild West" had ceased to be.
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
Many people may ask, “What the heck is the Cattleman’s Association?” Normally, the first thoughts that fill people’s minds when they hear “Cattleman’s Association” are: farmers, cows, farms, rednecks, dairy, beef, steaks, hamburger, milk, and so on. Many of these “stereotypes” prove true and many not so much. My experience with the KCA (Kentucky Cattleman’s Association) may be limited, but its roots run deep in my hometown and my family. Although a great number of my family members are in the KCA, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about them, which inspired me to “get to know” them.
The cowboys of the frontier have long captured the imagination of the American public. Americans, faced with the reality of an increasingly industrialized society, love the image of a man living out in the wilderness fending for himself against the dangers of the unknown. By the end of the 19th century there were few renegade Indians left in the country and the vast expanse of open land to the west of the Mississippi was rapidly filling with settlers.
In addition, cattle people didn’t have a real great way to contain their livestock. During this time, it was known as an “open range” because the cattle could go wherever they wanted to. However, in 1874, barbed wire became available. The fencing of this rangeland quickly put an end to the open range grazing era (A Condensed History of American Agriculture 1776–1999).
...farmers and ranchers today raise 13 percent more beef from 30 percent fewer cattle. The modern cattle rancher uses less water, produces less greenhouse gas, and is preventing overgrazing. Cattlemen today are more environmentally sustainable than they were 30 to 40 years. Although cattle farmers have a more efficient beef production today, producing 16 percent less carbon emissions, using 33 percent less land, and requiring 12 percent less water to maintain.
The cow is an extraordinary animal that is widely popular in all areas. There are two types of cows, dairy and beef (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Cows provide us with meat, dairy, and leather. They can live in a variety of places from grasslands all up to forests as long as there is enough vegetation for them to eat (Harris, n.d.). Cows spend most of their at grazing, roughly around eight hours per day. When cows graze, it depends mostly on the temperature outside. For example. If the weather is very high out they will generally graze at night time (Animal Behaviour Cattle, 2016). Cows are commonly known as domestic cattle, but are also known as their scientific name, Bos Taurus (Genomics, n.d.). There is many components to the cow itself including having four separate stomachs and a very intricate anatomy.
The first dairy cows were brought to the United States by the settlers who came to the Plymouth Colony in the seventeenth century. The dairy cow is characterized by its lean angular form and a well developed mammary system. Their bodies are especially adapted to convert feed into the maximum amount of high- quality milk. “Originally, farms were primarily small producing just enough for the family and perhaps some extra to trade in larger towns for goods not available on the farm” (“Brief”). At first, family farms would have one or two cows to milk and to help in the fields. Once the refrigerated rail cars were inverted, farmers began importing high milk producing cows. By the early 1900s the farms were filled with jerseys.