The Growth of the Cattle Industry Chapter 13 Section 2

I The Cattle Industry Becomes Big Business A. The First Cowboys Horses and cattle introduced by the Spanish Spanish settlers used horses for work & Longhorn for food Longhorn flourished in Mexican plains  Spanish employing Aztec prisoners as vaqueros AKA cowboys As herds grew  vaqueros learned to use horses to manage the herds These first cowboys became expert riders and skilled at the use of la reata La reata = the lariat (laso)

Ranchers & vaqueros travel north to provide food for silver miners Eventually teach Pueblo Indians how to ride & rope Others cross the Rio Grande and settle in Texas & Great Plains Over yrs. Cattle and horses escaped and flourished in US as they had in Mexico

B. Influence of Mexican Culture American cowboy culture stems directly from Spanish ranchers in Mexico Amer. Learned how to manage herds on open range from their Mexican neighbors American cowboy clothes, food, & vocab influence by Mexican Cowboys Mexican vaquero first to use spurs Chaparreras = leather overalls AKA Chaps Charqui= dried strips of meat AKA Jerky Caballo Bronco = “rough horse” AKA Bronco

Amer. Cowboy adopts and adds to vaquero way of life Bandanna such a staple that it was requested to be official flag of open range Six-shooter = gun that could fire 6 shots w/o reloading Came to symbolize cowboy & the entire Old West

C. The Importance of the Railroad & City Dwellers Demand More Beef Cowboys were not successful until the RR reached the west Pre Civil War cowboys rarley left homesteads and sold to local markets After civil war cities grew and so did demand for beef Cowboys could ship their cattle on RR from Mizzou to the east  blockade from farmers McCoy (Illinois) purchases land and build RR  ranchers hiring cowboys to drive their cattle to Albien (RR station)

II The Truth about Cowboys Cowboy owned his saddle but horse belonged to his boss Prob never shot anyone as they as portrayed in movies to conduct “hold ups” Cowboy season begins w/ roundup  rode in open range and round up as many longhorns as they could into a coral Branded the longhorn that was theirs Trail boss then chose a crew for the long drive Drive to RR tracks in Abilene

IV The End of the Cattle Frontier Natural disasters contributed to the end of the cattle frontier Overgrazing destroyed the plains Drought caused land to dry up grasslands and turn it into a desert Invention of barbed wire also contributed to the end of the cattle frontier Ranchers turned to high-grade stock that yielded more meat than free grazing longhorn Ranchers fenced in land w/ barbed wire to keep cattle from straying  the end of wide open west