Line Art Cowboy Carrying Heavy Beef

Loading...

The cattle industry in the U.s.a. in the nineteenth century due to the young nation's abundant land, wide-open spaces, and rapid development of railroad lines to send the beef from western ranches to population centers in the Midwest and the Eastward Coast.

Beginnings of the Cattle Industry

The Europeans who first settled in America at the end of the 15th century had brought longhorn cattle with them. Past the early 19th century cattle ranches were common in United mexican states. At that time Mexico included what was to get Texas. The longhorn cattle were kept on an open range, looked after past cowboys called vaqueros.

In 1836, Texas became contained, the Mexicans left, leaving their cattle behind. Texan farmers claimed the cattle and set up their own ranches. Beef was not popular so the animals were used for their skins and tallow. In the 1850s, beefiness began to be more popular and its price rose making some ranchers quite wealthy.

In 1861, Ceremonious State of war broke out between the Northern and Southern states. Texan ranchers left their farms to fight for the Confederate army. The Confederates lost the war. The defeat destroyed the economy in the South. All the same, the cattle, left to their own devices, had multiplied. There were approximately 5 million longhorn cattle in Texas in 1865 but in that location was no market for them in the South. At that place was, however, a marketplace in the north. If the ranchers could get their cattle to the North they would fetch ten times what they were worth in the Due south.

Why was Joseph McCoy important for the cattle industry?

Joseph McCoy was a livestock trader in Chicago. He wanted to bring the longhorn cattle from Texas to Chicago and from at that place distribute them to the Eastward. Making himself a lot of coin in the process.

Homesteaders who had established themselves in Kansas objected to the cattle crossing their land because they carried a tick that killed other animals. Cattlemen driving cattle through Kansas met fierce opposition and were reluctant to brand the journey.

McCoy knew that the railroad companies were not bad to carry more than freight. The Kansas/Pacific railway ran past a borderland hamlet. McCoy congenital a hotel, stockyard, office and bank in the hamlet which became known as Abilene – i of the start cow towns. Cattle were to be driven from Texas to Abilene and were and so taken East by train.

Abilene was almost the end of a trail that had been established during the Civil War by Jesse Chisholm to take supplies to the Confederate army. The trail lay to the w of the Kansas farms which meant the cattlemen could use it without hostility from the Kansas homesteaders.

In 1867, McCoy spent $5,000 on advertising and riders. He promised a good price for cattle sold in Abilene and was a man of his give-and-take. One cattleman bought 600 cows for $v,400 and sold them in Abilene for $sixteen,800. It was the start of the 'beef bonanza'. Between 1867 and 1881 McCoy sent more than two million cattle from Abilene to Chicago. His reputation for reliability gave rising to the expression 'the real McCoy'.

This 20th Century drawing shows cattle being driven into Abilene

Rise and Fall

The cattle industry was at its peak from 1867 until the early 1880s. The post-obit factors contributed to this:

Increased number of railway lines – able to transport cattle to new markets

Development of refrigerated track carriages – cattle could be slaughtered before transportation

Removal of Indians from the Plains to reservations – more land bachelor for ranching

In the last twenty years of the nineteenth century the beef merchandise virtually complanate. The following factors contributed to this:

Farmers began to experiment with different breeds of cattle that could not live on the open range.

At that place was less grass available for grazing due to the number of people settling on the Plains.

In 1883 there was a drought that ruined what grass at that place was.?

The need for beef cruel which meant that ranching was less profitable

The winter of 1886/7 was very severe – cattle and cowboys died in the freezing temperatures

A New Arroyo

The days of the open range were over. From the late nineteenth century cattle were kept on enclosed ranches and farmed in much smaller quantities. Two inventions were particularly of import in making this an choice:

Spinous Wire

Barbed wire was invented by J F Glidden in 1874. This invention meant that large areas could be fenced cheaply. Cattle were at present enclosed on ranches and no longer roamed the Plains. Equally a consequence fewer cowboys were needed and the long drive was a thing of the past.

Wind Pump

The strong winds that blew across the Plains were an ideal source of energy. Windmills were used to bulldoze pumps that could pump water from hugger-mugger. This meant that cattle ranches did not need to exist sited virtually a river or stream.

The age of the wild and free cowboy was gone, they now spent much of their time mending fences and tending the cattle. The cattle industry was irrevocably changed. Even so, the epitome of the wild and free cowboy was dramatised in Wild Westward shows performed for eastern audiences and it is that prototype that became, and has remained, a feature of the legend of the wild, wild w.

This article is role of our larger resource on the American West civilization, society, economic science, and warfare. Click here for our comprehensive article on the American West.

Cite This Article

"American West – The Cattle Industry" History on the Net
© 2000-2022, Salem Media.
May xxx, 2022 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/american-west-the-cattle-industry>
More Commendation Data.

simpsonsormse.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.historyonthenet.com/american-west-the-cattle-industry

Share this post