The Cattle Industry Flashcards
What happened in 1861?
John Illiff bought a herd of cattle which were too ill to move so he ranches them on the Plains
This showed cows could survive on the Plains
But no railroad meant he did not buy a ranch until later
When was the Pacific Railroad Act?
1862
What were cows worth in Chicago in 1865?
$40 each
Cows in Texas have overbred after the Civil War
When was the Goodnight-Loving Trail established?
1866
Established to get cows to Eastern market at a Fort Sumner
When did John Illiff buy his ranch in Wyoming?
1867
When did Joseph McCoy create the first ‘cow town’?
1867 in Abilene
Cowboys used the Chisholm Trail to get there and using the railroad to sell the beef to Chicago
When was the railroad completed?
1869
What happened during the ‘Beef Bonanza’ in the 1870s?
This decade saw the growth of ranching on the Plains
Farming cattle became one of the most profitable jobs in the West
Rich investors begin to invest their money in ranches and become known as ‘cattle barons’
How much cattle had been driven to Abilene and transported to the East using the railroad in 1872?
3 million
When was barbed wire invented?
1874
This made ranching easier
When were refrigerated cattle cars beginning to be used on the trains to transport beef?
1875
How much cattle are there in the West in 1880?
4.5 million cattle
Half of that in Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and Dakota
What happened in the Great Die-Up in 1886-1887?
Temperatures fall as low as -55 degrees on the Plains
At least 15% of open range herds die
This causes the end of the open range technique and a move towards smaller fenced ranches
What changed in ranching in 1872?
Illiff has 26,000 cattle on his ranch
Ranching took over as the main way to farm cattle using the open range style
