Section 1: Introduction
When the Aztec Cattle Company ("The Hashknife Outfit") first got to northeast
Arizona, they found knee-high grass as far as they could see. They moved cattle from
Texas to Arizona and just kept bringing in more and more. They ran those cattle on
about 2 million acres of land between Flagstaff and New Mexico. The cattle grazed the
grass off and the drought that had already started kept more grass from growing in.
There was already very little water, so the cattle started dying off by the thousands.
Country that used to look like an ocean of grass turned into a dried out, wind
blasted desert. During this same time, the railroads were being put in across the country
and cattle were starting to be shipped on trains. (This meant higher transportation costs
when cattle prices were starting to go down.)
Some of the worst parts of Arizona's history was caused by the Hashknife Outfit
and its cutthroat hired help. Mormon settlers were harassed, robbed, and run out of the
country. Cattle were stolen from the settlers and other ranches. But the worst problems
from the Hashknife cowboys was had by the sheepmen and the towns people. Towns like
Holbrook were the scenes of killing, drinking, whoring, and troublemaking. The
sheepmen were harassed, their sheep killed, and sometimes got themselves killed.
Section 2: The Search
The Hashknife Outfit pioneered large-scale cattle ranching in Arizona; but their
overgrazing scarred the land, drought and hard winters killed the cattle, and their
criminal behavior made its mark on Arizona's history.
The "Hashknife brand resembled a cooking utensil used by chuckwagon cooks to
chop up meat and potatoes for hash. The brand was owned by the Aztec Land and Cattle
Company and was used to brand thousands of cattle. Many cattle ranches came to be
known by their brands instead of by their company names because it was easier for
people to remember--that's why the Aztec Land and Cattle Company was called the
"Hashknife Outfit".(my mom--Arizona family verbal tradition)
"The Hashknife Outfit was established in northern Arizona in 1884. A
shareholder in the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad persuaded a group of Eastern investors to
purchase a million acres of grazing land offered for sale by the railroad. The new ranch,
called the 'Aztec Land and Cattle Company', brought in 33,000 head of Texas Longhorn
Cattle, a large remuda (herd of saddle broke horses) of horses, and the Hashknife brand"
(Hughes xi).
When the stockholders of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company were first meeting
to form the company, cattle prices were already headed downward.
While farmers sold millions of bushels, and bales of wheat, cotton and corn, state legislatures began to see a need to enforce laws upon these farmers and to gain control of their states and its people. Document C gives a good statement of legislature holding down railroads and the goods being transported. Document C states a prairie farmer , "...they carried a law through the Illinois legislature, which provides for the limiting of freight rates by a board of officials appointed for this purpose." Angered by these types of laws, farmers who used these railroads went against the laws in court.
o Were influenced by the German missionaries who pushed them out of their land. They attacked colonists and Germany declared war, ultimately killing 60% of them.
Because of westward expansion, America gained a significant amount of fertile land which contributed to the nation 's’ agrarian identity. The wilderness and landscape
Crops which were green and healthy in June, had reduced to nothing in two to three weeks. The cause of devastation to the crops was usually from dust storms.
...f Farm Animals as Products, in the Western and Southwestern States and Territories, and in Virginia, and of the Best Routes to and the Cost of Reaching the Districts Described 2nd Ed. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1876. Print.
The continuing damage produced by the Apaches and the failure of the civil power to mount a determined response caused the leaving of many smaller, distant settlements. Population was determined in central communities such as Tucson and Nogales. Moreover, continued civil unrest in central Mexico and the failure of the central government to establish effective running in the region resulted in the isolation of the southern Arizona population. Finally, these issues caused a shift in the economic connections of people living on the border, and they united with the expanding interests of the United States. With the opening of the Santa Fe Trail by Americans in 1821, the southwestern region became closer to the overland and sea directions that supplied communities along the Mississippi River as well as the western area of the United States.
Although early nineteenth century Kansas was vast in territory, the land was mostly unpopulated. This cheap abundant land along with the dream of a better life lured farmers from the east to start their lives in Kansas. Many people were driven to pack their belongings and start their westward bound journey. Floyd Benjamin St...
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.
"The Santa Fe Trail Lives On!" Welcome to SFTNet, the latest manifestation of the Santa Fe Trail saga. This service is designed for trail buffs, students, researchers, travelers on the trail--in short, anyone with an interest in historic or contemporary developments along the Santa Fe Trail. What Is The Santa Fe Trail? As many who read this introduction will know, the Santa Fe Trail is an ancient land route of communication between the desert Southwest of what is now the United States and the prairies and plains of central North America. In the Southwest it was also part of a longer route that ran down the Rio Grande into what is now northern Mexico. American Indian peoples used the route to trade the agricultural produce of the Rio Grande Valley and the bounty of the plains, such as jerked buffalo meat and buffalo hides. When the Spanish conquistador Onate came to New Mexico in 1598, he and his soldiers followed this ancient route as they explored the plains and traded with the peoples there. During the next two centuries the Spanish gained an intimate knowledge of the plains and the routes between the Mississippi-Missouri river systems and the Southwest. Then, in 1821, a trader from Missouri, William Becknell, came to Santa Fe along what was to become known as the historical route of the Santa Fe Trail. He opened the Santa Fe Trail as a commercial route between what was then ...
The border region has seen “rapid transformation in a short span of time, changing from a cattle ranching and mining area that attracted U.S., Mexican and European capitalists…to the center of a lucrative vice and pleasure-based tourist industry, to a region that …attracted an extraordinary amount of international capital to its manufacturing and services sector”. (Ganster/Lorey 2) Events and years such as the implementation of the railroad, the years before the Mexican Revolution, the land reform in 1936 and 1937, the implementation of the maquiladora program and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had a significant impact on the U.S. Mexican Borderlands.
Turner, Frederick J. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1966. Print.
prices. The Oklahoma land run took place that year, with settlers lining up at a
The Pacific Railroad bill of 1862 launched the transcontinental railroad construction project. The Pacific Railroad bill granted 6,400 acres of public lands and government loans ranging from $16,000 to $48,000 per mile of track completed to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad companies. (Pacific Railroad Bill) Following the Pacific Railroad bill a series of federal and state acts between 1862 and 1871 granted more than 130 million acres of public land and supplied additional monetary loans of approximately $150 million dollars to the expansion of the railroads. (Gillon p.652)
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.
Thompson, Paul B. and Stout, Bill A. Beyond The Large Farm. Westview Press, Inc.: Colorado 1991