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Jan 1, 1500
The Beginning
The earliest ranchers in the American West were Spaniards who imported cattle -
Texas Longhorns
Texans interbred English cattle with Spanish cattle to produce a new breed called Texas Longhorns. Thier meat was tough and stringy and they were able to travel long distances on little water. They could also live year round on grass. Longhorns were immune to Texas fever, a disese that was carried by other cattle. -
The Cost in the beginning
A steer could bring about $4 in Texas and coul dbe sold for about $40 or more in Eastern markets -
Barbed Wire
Joseph Glidden patented barbed wire to fence in cattle so he would keep them together and to let his compeition know that it was his. It also kept the stealing rate down more -
Mexican
Most mexicans and mexican american cowboys worked on ranchses in Texas. Once they had sons they would go to work on other peoples farms sometimes, or help out their own dad. -
Range wars
Cattle ranchers/farmers had filled miles of open range land with barbed wire fencing to control access to land and water. Some farmers had responded to this by cutting the fences in their way and stealing cattle. All this created ranged wars where peeople kept trying to get revenge on eachother for causing harm to one anothers cattle -
Money
The cattle had brought about $35 a head in Chicago -
Money
Now the cattle only sold for $8, continually going down in time. -
The Start of the End
In 1885 and 1886 a severe winter hit the southern heards and diminished many of them. RIght after the winter there was a long drought that killed even more off -
End of the Cowboy Era
A terrible blizzard hammered the Northern Plains. at 46 degrees below zero, many frozen and starved cattle were found. Some ranchers lost of to 90% of their herds. The sheep that remainded after this soon ended up dying and that was known as the end of the Cowboy Era. -
Basques
10,000 basques were living in the west even with the conflicts between them and the cowboys. they were also called shepherds. The cowboys drove their herds of sheep off cliffs to make more room for their own.
