Igler's 'Industrial Cowboys'

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Recommended: The labor union movement of the late 1800s

In Industrial Cowboys, Igler offers a study on the advances of Miller and Lux, dating back from the time they started in the Gold Rush era to the end of their campaign in the 1920s. Igler’s book studies the firm’s logistical structure as well as change in the San Joaquin valley environment, the political economy of California as a state and labor interactions. Igler does a superb job explaining how these two German immigrants rose to the top of the meatpacking business through the use of primary sources, company and public records, and various newspapers. Igler also uses photographs and maps to add to his analysis. In a growing effort to incorporate districts and industries ignored eastern research based plans, Igler makes a very persuasive argument that Miller and Lux, San Francisco, and the West were an essential role in the industrial transformation of the nation.
Miller and Lux, based out of San Francisco, was ranked in the largest industrial enterprises in 1900. Miller and Lux had an immense number of cattle spread over 1.25 million acres in several states. Miller and Lux controlled the Pacific Coast and intermountain meat markets. The company made more than 5 million in annual sales in 1913. Igler explains that in order for Miller and Lux to make more than over 5 million in sales, they had control over both land and water rights. Miller and Lux used that power over land and water to change the environment so the company can make profit. Igler sates, “industrial enterprise in the Far West thrived by engineering natural landscapes and mobilizing large labor forces.” (p. 7) Like many other large industries, Miller and Lux relied on capital to undertake both vertical integration and to dominate the market. They also gave jobs to...

... middle of paper ...

...as the man on the ranch overseeing the land, water and cattle. Igler describes their relationship as “cordial yet distant.” (p. 17)
In the end Industrial Cowboys offers a reproving tale about research methodologies. Instead of following a theoretical framework, Igler delves in the evidence. Igler states that Miller and Lux never partake in felonious actions, and this makes Igler a little uncomfortable, thus he provides different scenarios for the firms decline after Lux’s death. There is an imperative truth about the political economy of the Far West hinted by Igler. Igler states, “Wealth and power remained with those who could engineer the landscape and temporarily elude the environmental and social consequences" (p. 183). Thanks to Igler’s book, the reader has a much more deeper understanding for the history of business, the environment, labor, and of California.

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