The men drove and grazed the cattle most of the day, herding them by relays at night. Sam Houston In 1867 a young Illinois livestock dealer, Joseph G. McCoy, built market facilities at Abilene, Kansas, at the terminus of Chisholm Trail. Vast areas were left vacant. Encyclopedia.com. Perhaps a fourth were African American, and more were likely Mexican or Mexican American. In the olden times this was done because there was no other way to move the cattle. [3], On average, a single herd of cattle on a long drive (for example, Texas to Kansas railheads) numbered about 3,000 head. During the 1850s emigration and freighting from the Missouri River westward demanded great numbers of oxen, and thousands of Texas longhorn steers were broken for use as work oxen. Drives toward the north began again in 1866, but with little financial gain. In 1790 the boy Davy Crockett helped drive "a large stock of cattle" four hundred miles, from Tennessee into Virginia. I have driven cattle in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and even in Uruguay and beyond,… Life on the cattle drives has always been pretty amazing—and mighty inspiring. Herds of longhorns were driven to Chicago and at least one herd to New York. In the years from 1866 to 1890 the Great Plains of the American West were home to over five million cattle. Although Civil War devastated the country’s economy, Texas had a valuable resource with millions of longhorn cattle roaming wild across the Texas plains. "Texas Almanac - The Source For All Things Texan Since 1857." Contrary to popular conception, long-distance cattle driving was traditional not only in Texas but elsewhere in North America long before anyone dreamed of the Chisholm Trail. 31 Oct. 2013. Cowboys, after months of monotonous work, dull food, and abstinence of all kinds, were paid off and turned loose. So the long drives began. This was when a large herd of cattle was moved from the ranch to a market place where they could be sold. Even the Australians began cattle drives to ports for shipment of beef to San Francisco and, after freezing methods were developed, all the way to Britain. During the Civil War, the Shawnee Trail was virtually unused. Hamner, Laura V. Short Grass and Longhorns. The cattle survived on the "open range" or public domain lands of Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana. 12 Jan. 2021 . Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Eventually as cattle drives became less frequent, longhorns were interbred with Durhams and Herefords to create more plump and docile varieties. [6] The Shawnee Trail, also known as the Texas Road or Texas trail, played a significant role in Texas as early as the 1840s. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. CATTLE DRIVES. Some communities, such as Fort Worth, became points where herds were assembled for shipping by rail. Texas cattle were immune to this disease; but the ticks that they left behind infected the local cattle. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Clayton, Lawrence; Hoy, Jim; and Underwood, Jerald. Cowboys would get up early in the morning and "guide" the herd to the next stopping point for the night. Cattle drives are simply that: you are moving cattle from one area to another. He rode with lightning and blizzard, ate hot summer sand, and was burned by the sun. The junior ones have to occupy the back of the cattle. HISTORY OF CATTLE DRIVES. However, the discovery of gold in California temporarily arrested development of the cattle industry and created a high demand for outside beef. High meat prices in eastern cities attracted a variety of entrepreneurs and prompted cattlemen to search for a way to bring them to market. Cattle were driven several hundred miles from Tennessee to Virginia in the 1790s. Web. In Texas itself cattle raising expanded rapidly as American tastes shifted from pork to beef. Point man The point man, also called the point rider or lead rider, is the cowboy who rides near the front of the herd—determining the direction, controlling the speed, and giving the cattle something to follow. Jordan, Terry G. North American Cattle–Ranching Frontiers: Origins, Diffusion, and Differentiation. CATTLE DRIVES. ." James Butler Hickok, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson were among the best-known cattle town marshals. The wagon carried the bedrolls; tents were considered excess luxury. During the Civil War, Texans drove cattle throughout the South for the Confederate forces. Fortunately for the cattlemen, the close of the Civil War also marked a major transition in U.S. meat–consumption patterns. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Just think about… In case you’ve ever wondered about the average size of those Long Trail cattle drives… Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and the Wild West History Association’s vice president. A national preference for pork abruptly gave way to beef. Cattle drives were a major economic activity in the 19th and early 20th century American West, particularly between 1850s and 1910s. "—Roosevelt argued that the manhood typified by the cowboy—and outdoor activity and sports generally—was essential if American men were to avoid the softness and rot produced by an easy life in the city. The long cattle drives, and also the almost mythological era of the American cowboy, had begun. The Range Cattle Industry: Ranching on the Great Plains from 1865 to 1925. Dale, Edward Everett. © 2019 Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. The extermination of buffalo on the Great Plains during the 1870s opened more grasslands for livestock grazing and the Texas longhorn was the first to fill the void. Sam Houston was the first president of the Independent Republic of Texas , and he later served as governor of the state of T…, SOUTHWEST may be roughly defined as the southwestern quarter of the United States, although any distinct delimitation of the area is necessarily arbi…, BAYLOR, ROBERT EMMETT BLEDSOE Dary, David. Expansion of the cattle industry resulted in the need for additional open range. One of the most famous movies is Red River (1948) directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. In this period, 27 million cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas, for shipment to stockyards in Louisiana and points east. [1] Texas cattle numbers grew significantly in that period, and after the war could not be sold for more than $2 a head in Texas. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. [16], The typical drive comprised 1,500–2,500 head of cattle. Events intended to promote the western lifestyle may incorporate cattle drives. The cattle culture of the early American Southwest … The typical outfit consisted of a boss, (perhaps the owner), from ten to fifteen hands, each of whom had a string of from five to ten horses; a horse wrangler who handled the horses; and a cook, who drove the chuck wagon. "The Circle Dot Cowboys at Dodge City: History and Imagination in Andy Adams's The Log of a Cowboy,". All you need to bring is a go-getter attitude, a smile and probably some clothes! ." This event, the "Great Chihuahua Cattle Drive," was the largest cattle drive attempted over that trail up to that time, but the market was much better in Kansas than in Mexico, so most drives headed north. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Most were young. (January 12, 2021). For guests the 515 km (320 mile) journey was divided into several legs of different length. The Chisholm Trail, for example, was 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long. The first was Abilene, Kansas. Cattle drives were a major plot element of many Hollywood films and television shows, particularly during the era when westerns were popular. [5][8] By 1866 an estimated 200,000 to 260,000 surplus cattle were available. Hunter, J. Marvin, compiler and ed. Merchants would send out individuals with gifts to entice cowhands into to town to spend their money. Due to the extensive treatment of cattle drives in fiction and film, the horse has become the worldwide iconic image of the American West, where cattle drives still occur. This cattle drive is the duration of a week and happens once a year in the fall. Each year between May and September, the staff at the Focus move more than 1,300 head of cattle every five to ten days as part of the ranch's holistic grazing practices. Dodge City, Kansas became the chief shipping point for another trail farther west, crossing the Red River at Red River Station, Texas. Encyclopedia.com. The last cattle drive on the Birdsville Track was in 1972, so the revival in 2002 brought back many memories to Eric. Even with branding, the presence of cattle rustlers lowered the profit margin and made the drives more dangerous. . ." The practice was introduced to North America early during European colonization. In 1866, Kohrs purchased a ranch near Deer Lodge, Montana[21] from former Canadian fur trader Johnny Grant. Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor achieved prominence as a jurist, a Baptist preacher, and a law professor. Long-distance cattle driving was traditional in Mexico, California and Texas, and horse herds were sometimes similarly driven. Historians struggle to estimate the number of men who worked as cowboys in the late nineteenth century, but counts range from 12,000 to as many as 40,000. High-crowned cowboy hat, high-heeled boots, leather chaps, pistol, rifle, lariat, and spurs were functional and necessary in the field, and fascinating on the movie screen. In 1869 more than 350,000 head of cattle were driven along the Chisholm Trail. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. There was also a trail boss and a camp cook along on each drive. . While cattle could be driven as far as 25 miles (40 km) in a single day, they would lose so much weight that they would be hard to sell when they reached the end of the trail. Roundup. Theodore Roosevelt conceptualized the herder as a stage of civilization distinct from the sedentary farmer—a classic theme well expressed in the 1944 Broadway hit "Oklahoma! This page was last edited on 20 December 2020, at 03:21. Oklahoma State The southern extension of the Chisholm Trail originated…, Charles Goodnight Half the cattle remained unsold and had to be wintered on Kansas ranges at great expense. "Cattle Drives [20] Individual cattle barons such as Conrad Kohrs built up significant ranches in the northern Rockies. Cusic, Don. Cattle drives were tough work. In the 1890s, herds were still driven from the Panhandle of Texas to Montana, but by 1895 trail driving had virtually ended because of barbed wire, railroads, and settlement. . It described a fictional drive of the Circle Dot herd from Texas to Montana in 1882, and became a leading source on cowboy life; historians retraced his path in the 1960s, confirming his basic accuracy. The era of the great cattle drives began right after the Civil War. The herds sometimes suffered from "Texas Fever," a disease transmitted by ticks. Like many such films, Red River tended to exaggerate the dangers and disasters of cattle driving. When an 1898 play's portrayal of Texans outraged Adams, he started writing plays, short stories, and novels drawn from his own experiences. Beckstead, James H. Cowboying: A Tough Job in a Hard Land. instinctually driven to attempt mounting, but the technique of mounting improving with experience. Find calories, carbs, and nutritional contents for cattle drive and over 2,000,000 other foods at MyFitnessPal.com. In the mid–1870s farming crept westward and barbed wire fencing threatened the cattle drives. Cowboys originated in Spanish, CA and Mexico then adapted to the Texas drives in the 1870s and 1880s Early cattle drives were initiated by Nelson Story and Charles Goodnight. In 1866 there were many drives northward without a definite destination and without much financial success. headquarters: 13500 north central expy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943. As early as 1540, Spaniards established a cattle industry and began driving herds northward from central Mexico, as they looked for good pasturage. West Chester, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1991. Other towns in Kansas, including Wichita and Dodge City, succeeded Abilene or shared its patronage by riders fresh off the long trail. But by 1853, as 3,000 cattle were trailed through western Missouri, local farmers blocked their passage and forced herds to turn back because the Longhorns carried ticks that carried Texas fever. THE HISTORY OF CATTLE DRIVES . . New York: Facts on File, 1994. Smaller cattle drives continued at least into the 1940s, as ranchers, prior to the development of the modern cattle truck, still needed to herd cattle to local railheads for transport to stockyards and packing plants. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954. Small Spanish settlements in Texas derived much of their revenue from horses and cattle driven into Louisiana, though such trade was usually illegal. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Cattle were also driven to the old but limited New Orleans market, following mostly well-established trails to the wharves of Shreveport and Jefferson, Texas. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/cattle-drives, Dobie, J. Frank "Cattle Drives His writing is acclaimed and criticized for both its fidelity to truth and lack of literary qualities.[25]. In fact, many men listed their occupation as “cowboy” on the 1880 U.S. Census (which you’ll be able to search free on Ancestry). Texas cattle were herded north, into the Rocky Mountains and Dakotas. At the close of the war Texas had some 5 million cattle—and no market for them. The drive, which could take anywhere from several weeks to several months, depending on the trail and destination, could be boring for long stretches at a time, with nothing to see but flat land, dust and the bony hind ends of the cattle. rev. Cowboys and the Wild West: An A–Z Guide from the Chisholm Trail to the Silver Screen. It was about 520 miles long and generally followed the line of the ninety-eighth meridian, but never had an exact location, as different drives took somewhat different paths. The cattle culture of the early American Southwest borrowed heavily from the South American and Central American cowboys, who were called "gauchos." Retrieved January 12, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/cattle-drives. They ate grass; the men had bread, meat, beans with bacon, and coffee. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Cattle Drives, Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cattle_drives_in_the_United_States&oldid=995273170, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013, Articles with dead external links from November 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The farmers and their barbed wire were blocking the right–of–way of the drives. By 1866, cattle could be sold to northern markets for as much as $40 per head, making it potentially profitable for cattle, particularly from Texas, to be herded long distances to market. International visitors from all around the world merged with Australian city slickers to experience an unique adventure. Evans, Simon; Carter, Sarah; and Yeo, Bill, eds. The cow towns along the trail were notorious for providing liquor to the cowboys; they usually were not allowed to drink on the trail itself.[24]. Following these events, ranchers began to use barbed wire to enclose their ranches and protect their own grazing lands from intrusions by others' animals. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1929. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Drives were cost–effective too—a drive of two thousand or more cattle usually required only a trail boss and a dozen cowhands. The crew also included a cook, who drove a chuck wagon, usually pulled by oxen, and a horse wrangler to take charge of the remuda (spare horses). [2] On average, a herd could maintain a healthy weight moving about 15 miles (24 km) per day. In the 1840s, most drives continued to originate in Texas, bringing beef northward to various Missouri market points. Wild and Woolly: An Encyclopedia of the Old West. Thus many ranchers expanded into the northwest, where there were still large tracts of unsettled grassland. Ed. See more ideas about old west, cattle drive, wild west. The Spaniards, who established the ranching industry in the New World, drove herds northward from Mexico as far back as 1540. Local economies of towns along the frequently used routes benefited substantially. Therefore, the 1866 drive failed to reach the railroad and the cattle herds were sold for low prices. Dobie, J. Frank "Cattle Drives Gard, Wayne. The cattle drive lives on in western legend, however, and remains integrally associated with the economic history of Texas. In 1867, cowboys began driving longhorn cattle along the Chisholm Trail; 150-year celebrations are underway in the state. By the mid–1880s the great days of the cattle drives were about over. Episode four of the 1970s miniseries Centennial, titled The Longhorns, featured a cattle drive from central Texas to northeastern Colorado. Read More. Such a pace meant that it would take as long as two months to travel from a home ranch to a railhead. In fact, if the cattle were skillfully managed, they could actually gain weight along the trail. A lot of the original cattle drives went from Texas to the railroads in Kansas. Cattle driving over long distances also took place in the United States, although infrequently. To herd the cattle, a crew of at least 10 cowboys was needed, with three horses per cowboy. 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