1. Ranchers & the Cattle Kingdom
What did the blanket tell the
U.S. marshal?
What is a sick longhorn?

3. What was the Cattle Kingdom
What was the Cattle Kingdom? An open-range area from Texas north to Canada:
What were the key trails? The Chisholm Trail (Jesse Chisholm, 1867) was the most famous.
 Why did it exist? The increased demand for beef in the East.

4. Many ranchers grazed their huge herds on the open range, or public land. The Texas Longhorns were a cross between Spanish/English cattle with horns up to 7’:

5. Who were they?
Cowboy – originated from vaquero. The first cowhands who came from Mexico. The vaqueros later taught the American cowhand how to rope and ride.
About 1/3 of the cowhands in the West were Mexican or African American. Many African Americans were former slaves who moved to get away from the South because Black Codes were enacted during Reconstruction.
Who was Nat Love?: the most famous African American cowhand
Extra: Who was Elizabeth Collins?; “Calamity Jane”?

6. Describe life for the cowhand Peak year: 1871
12 cowboys would drive 2,000 longhorns 1,000 miles (long drives)
Young calves and horses were branded during the spring roundups. Why were the longhorn cattle branded?
Life was not easy on the trail: Examples:
Gathering the cattle: roundups
Stampedes; Weather; Rivers; Rattle snakes
17 hours a day, seven days a week.

7. Livelihood:
Many cowhands lived in cow towns that rapidly developed in the Plains of the West: Abilene, Kansas; Dodge City, Kansas
Problems quickly came about since there weren’t any local governments or law officers
Vigilantes & outlaws (life in cattle towns was rough and violent).
One law official, Wyatt Earp was famous for keeping the peace in cattle towns

8. $5/head in Texas
$40/head – Joe McCoy in Abilene, Kansas where he built a stockyard fence.
Cattle were sent East by train to feed growing cities

9. Equipment: saddle, lariat, chaps, hat, spurs

10. Why did the Cattle Kingdom end?

11. After 20 successful years (1867-1887), several developments brought the cattle boom to an end:
1. The price of beef dropped sharply.
2. The invention of barbed wire (invented by Joseph Glidden) prevented cattle from moving freely, which caused the open range to disappear.
3. The harsh winter of caused thousands of cattle on the Plains to freeze to death.
4. Competition between farmers and large and small ranchers led to range wars.

12. Western Expansion: Triumph or Tragedy?
What do you think so far about ranching and the Cattle Kingdom? Is it a triumph or tragedy of Western Expansion?
What are some possible ideas for a landmark?
Think – person, place, thing, event
 Great Job !