Cowboys & the Cattle Ranging Industry (1877-1890)

Question 1

The Chisholm Trail

Answer 1

• Used to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas
• Used post-Civil War
• 1867: devised by Joseph McCoy
• Journey known as the ‘Long Drive’
• Main railhead of the Kansas Pacific Railway in Abilene

Question 2

Cattle Ranging

Answer 2

• Ranching frontier based in Texas, climatic conditions ideal for raising cattle
• Administration of Governor John Ireland enabled individuals to accumulate land
• Allowed ranchers to acquire grazing ;and at 50 cents an acre
• Between 1866 and 1885 a total of 5.71 million cattle went north by this Chisholm Trail
• 1868: Phillip D. Armour established a meatpacking business in Chicago
• Meatpacking made use of the assembly line long before industry adopted it (Armour)
• New railheads eclipsed Abilene, and new cattle towns - Ellsworth, Wichita and Dodge City

Question 3

Cowboys

Answer 3

• Post-Civil War: 40,000 cowboys roamed the Plains
• Most were in their late teens and early twenties
• Made up of ex-Confederate soldiers, 1/3 were Mexican, AAs, Asian or Native American
• Almost all were expert horsemen which was essential, spent 2 months on cattle drives
• Average wage of $25-30
• Worked an 18-hour work day
• Variety of potential hazards: e.g. floods, poisonous snakes, scorpions, stampedes, occasionally Native Americans

Question 4

End of the Open Range (1890)

Answer 4

• Two exceptionally cold winters between 1885 and 1887
• Death of millions of western cattle
• Thousands of cattlemen, e.g. Swan Land & Cattle Company were ruined
• Most who survived retreated to a smaller, fenced in ranches, equipped with shelter
• By 1890, days of open range and cowboys were effectively over