Cattle Ranching and Beef Flashcards
How many Acres of land did Joseph McCoy buy for his cow town?
450 acres of land
Who created the first ‘Cow town’ of Abilene and when?
Joseph McCoy, in 1867
When did John Iliff buy an exausted, thinned out cattle herd after a long drive and for how much.
He bought them in 1861, for $500
Why were Homesteaders upset about Cattle ranchers driving Texan cattle across their farmland?
Texas Longhorns carried a disease called Texas Longhorn Fever which killed other breeds of cattle, and therefore the homesteaders cattle
Which city did John Iliff see an opportunity to sell beef in? And why selling beef here such a good idea?
Iliff spotted an opportunity to sell beef in a place called Denver city. Gold had been found In Colorado, the state Denver is in and because of this the city was developing rapidly. Because of this development there were lots of people to buy beef
Why was Denver City, the city Iliff catered beef to, developing rapidly?
Gold was discovered in Colorado, the state Denver is located in. People rushed to Denver and the areas surrounding hoping to find their fortune
How many Cattle were driven to Joseph McCoy’s cow town of Abilene between 1867 and 1872?
3 million cows were driven from Texas to Abilene via the Chisholm Trail
Which trail leading from Texas to Abilene did Joseph McCoy spend $5,000 to advertise?
He spent $5,000 advertising the Chisholm Trail
What is a Range? John Iliff used one of these to fatten up exausted cows he bought.
A range is a large area of land with no fences used to graze cows
What is a rancher?
A rancher is someone who runs or owns a ranch, which is a cattle farm
Who were starving in a reservation in Fort Summer due to bad government planning?
Navanjo Indians were starving there. This created a market for Cattle there which Charles Goodnight and Oliver loving took advantage of.
Which trail did Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight create and why?
They created the Goodnight-Loving trail after noticing Navanjo Indians in a reservation in Fort summer needed food.
What was Fort Summer an example of?
Fort Summer was a reservation, a place the government confined Plains Indians to.
How did soil erosion occur on the plains as a result of the open range?
Overstocking meant that the soil on the plains eroded and this was a result of ranching on the open range
In what year was beef in great demand after the Civil War? And how much was a cow worth at this time?
Beef was in great demand in 1865, after the Civil War. A cow was worth $40 in Chicago because of this
Where was the demand of beef the highest after the civil war? North or south? And why
Beef was only in demand in the North. In the south the price of a cow was miniscule as the Texas Longhorns were left unmanaged during the war so they roamed freely. There were five millions cows in Texas.
The southern economy was also damaged because of the Civil War
How many cows were in Texas after the civil war and how much was one worth?
There were five million cows in Texas after the civil war and one was only worth $5
Why were Texans not able to complete their cattle drive to Sedalia via Kansas?
Homesteaders in Kansas were worried that the Texas Longhorns that were being driven would have Texas Longhorn Fever
Why did Texan Ranchers desperately want to drive their cattle away from Texas to sell?
The Texas Longhorns were left unmanaged during the war and there was an outbreak of them. 5 million cows inhabited Texas at this time.
When did the Civil War end?
1865, at this time cattle was in high demand in the north and low in the south, where the Texas Longhorns were left unmanaged
