Cattle Ranching

Question 1

When cattle ranching first began, who owned and ran most ranches?

Answer 1

Mexican Cowboys called vaquros

Question 2

What did the Texan ranchers do in 1836?

Answer 2

Drove the Mexican ranchers out, and claimed left behind cattle

Question 3

Why did numbers of cattle increase drastically between 1861 and 1865?

Answer 3

Texan ranchers left to fight in the Civil War, so cattle roamed free and huge herds grew

Question 4

At the end of the civil war, what did the Texan ranchers do with their cattle?

Answer 4

Round them up and drove them to sell in places such as California and New Orleans

Question 5

When did cattle ranching first begin and where?

Answer 5

1820s in Texas

Question 6

Who pioneered a trail to Denver, Colorado to sell cattle to gold miners?

Answer 6

Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving, the Goodnight- Loving Trail

Question 7

Who set up Abeline and how did you get there?

Answer 7

Joseph McCoy, the Chisholm Trail

Question 8

Who first set up an Open Range ranch, where and when?

Answer 8

John Illif, Wyoming 1867

Question 9

Who pioneered a second trail to Denver after the Goodnight-Loving Trail?

Answer 9

John Illif

Question 10

Who invented the Crazy Quilt and what did it mean?

Answer 10

Charles Goodnight, if he bought small patches of land here and there he could effectively control all of it

Question 11

By 1885 how many cattle barons owned how much land, and how many cattle?

Answer 11

35 cattle barons owned 8 million hectares and perhaps 1.5 million cattle

Question 12

When did the open range end?

Answer 12

1885-1890

Question 13

Why did the open range end?

Answer 13

Ranchers had over grazed the Plains, and cattle prices dropped due to overstocking

There was a drought in 1886 and a storm in January 1887 and half the cattle died in a single year

Homesteaders also began fencing off their land with barbed wire

Question 14

How did Charles Goodnight increase his and other ranchers profits?

Answer 14

By breeding the Texas Long Horn with British Herefords, he could breed heavier cattle that were still tough enough to survive on the Plains

Question 15

Who were the majority of cow boys?

Answer 15

Black ex-slaves

Question 16

What did Cowboys do in winter?

Answer 16

Stay on the ranch or lived in line camps, taking daily rides to stop cattle drifting into the open plain

Question 17

What did cowboys do in spring?

Answer 17

They went big riding to haul out mired cows, and went on the round up

Question 18

What did cowboys do in summer?

Answer 18

Went on the long drives to cow towns such as Dodge City and Abeline

Question 19

How were Cowboys’ lives similar to Native Americans?

Answer 19

They were entirely dependent on the natural products of the Plains

They moved around a lot

They cared for cattle

Their food and clothing was derived from cattle

They developed a system of long range signals

Question 20

How was life difficult for Cowboys?

Answer 20

Freezing cold winters on the ranch, danger of death(drowning and being trampled), harsh weather conditions, threats of attack from Indians and rustlers

Question 21

What was the job of the trail boss?

Answer 21

Person in charge of the drive

Question 22

What is a wrangler?

Answer 22

Cowboy who cares for the horses

Question 23

What did the cowboy riding drag have to do?

Answer 23

Chases stragglers

Question 24

What was the job of the chuck wagon?

Answer 24

Act as the cook

Question 25

What was the jobs of point and swing?

Answer 25

Point- Keeps look out and turn herd

Swing- Watches flanks of the herd

Question 26

Where is Johnson County?

Answer 26

Wyoming

Question 27

What did the cattlemen want from the homesteaders?

Answer 27

Land

Question 28

What did the homesteaders do in response to the cattlemen?

Answer 28

They refused to give up their land and tried to prevent the cattlemen having access to water

Question 29

Who did Governor Barber of Wyoming support and what did he say?

Answer 29

The cattlemen, that homesteaders were rustling their cattle

Question 30

Who did the Sheriff of Buffalo support and what did he say?

Answer 30

The homesteaders, that cattle barons were stealing their land

Question 31

What did the cattlemen regularly do to homesteaders?

Answer 31

Caught and hung them

Question 32

Who were hanged by cattlemen?

Answer 32

Ella Watson and Jim Averill

Question 33

What did the cattle barons do?

Answer 33

Assembled a list of 70 rustlers, the homesteaders, that they wanted killed. They hired a lynching party of 43 cattlemen, including 20 hired gun men

Question 34

Who did the lynching party attack?

Answer 34

A ranch known as the KC ranch. They killed Nick Ray and his partner Nate Chapman, who was roundup foreman of the local Northern Wyoming Farmers & Stock Growers Association

Question 35

What did the Sheriff of Buffalo do in response?

Answer 35

Raise a posse of 319 men, who rode out and trapped the cattlemen at a ranch called the TA

Question 36

What happened to the trapped cattlemen?

Answer 36

They were rescued by the Army cavalry

Question 37

What happened to the cattlemen after they were rescued?

Answer 37

They were charged with murder, but bribed the jury and the case was dropped. However, the war stopped the cattle barons power