The Cattle Kingdom and Farming
the Great Plains
Chapter 5 sections 3 and 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kl
Zuk5N2co&feature=related
The Cattle Boom
“Cattle are permitted to range… over a large
surface of country, thirty, forty, and even fifty
miles in extend [size].”
Who is going to keep track of these cattle?
The Cattle Boom
• ___________ _____________ are a mix
between Spanish and English cattle breeds.
– Breed spreads quickly throughout Texas
– They were lean and tough
– Had horns up to ____ feet across
– Need little ___________ and can survive the
harsh weather.
The demand for beef
• Following the _____________ War, the
demand for beef increases drastically.
– Growing ________________ and increasing
_________________
– Cattle that were $3 in Texas would sell for
upwards of ________in New York!
• Joseph McCoy establishes a market where
cattle were shipped on the _______________
____________ ______________.
The Cattle Kingdom
• ________________ expands onto the Great
Plains
• Ranches are built and cattle is taken to
Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and
___________________
• This area comes to be known as the
_______________ ________________.
• In this area, ranchers graze their herds on
public lands called the open range.
The Ranches
• ______________ _______________– Became
extremely wealthy during this time period
when she switched from mining to ranching
• Some ranches in Texas today are over 3 million
acres! That is bigger than the size of
_______________ ________________!
Range Rights
• Ranchers had to be concerned with securing
____________ for their cattle.
• ____________ _____________, or water
rights, to ponds and rivers were bought by
ranchers that allowed them to secure scarce
water sources as well as the land around it.
• Ranchers could cut out their
___________________ by stopping other
ranchers and farmers from using water.
Wild West Rootin Shootin
Cowboy Dictionary
• Find your 8 o’ clock pardner!!!
• You have 5 minutes!
• Match the definition with its correct term by
robbin’ that thar word down yonder.
• Good luck, Pardner!!!
The Cowboys
• The workers who took care of the ranchers
cattle were called _______________.
– They learned many farming and herding
techniques from Mexican ___________________.
• Mexican ranch hands who cared for cattle and
_____________
–
–
–
–
–
Western saddle
The _______________(a rope used for lassoing cattle)
Leather chaps
Broad felt hats
Bandanas
Cowboys
• Gathering cattle
together was known as
________________.
– Each cow was branded
with a unique mark to
prevent cattle theft
• Cowboys faced multiple
______________
– Cattle thieves, bad
weather, unpredictable
cattle,
Cattle Drives and Cattle Towns
• The ____________ ____________ was a long
journey where cowboys herded cattle to the
market or to the northern Plains to graze.
• The ______________ _____________was one
of the earliest and most popular routes for
cattle drives.
– Ran from San Antonio, Texas to __________,
Kansas
The end of the open range
• The __________________ railroad car
allowed meat to be carried from packing
plants to eastern cities.
• ________ _______ allowed farmers to cheaply
fence off their land.
Range wars
• With the use of barbed wire, large ranchers
moved quickly to fence in the open range and
secure the water sources.
• Farmers and small ranchers cut the fences and
moved onto the land in response, creating
_________ ______.
End of the open range 2
• _____________ owners begin to compete for
the land
– Sheep chew grass down very low
• 1885 and 1886 saw terrible winters in the
Midwest.
– Cattle die due to lack of food
– _______________ drops the price of cattle
– Harsh weather kills cattle
– Greater competition for grazing land
Cowboys today
• http://app.discoveryeducation.com/search#se
lItemsPerPage=20&intCurrentPage=1&No=20
&N=0&Ne=&Ntt=cowboys&Ns=&Nr=&browse
Filter=&indexVersion=&Ntk=
• The Homestead
Act
• 160 FREE ACRES
OF LAND!!!
• All you have to
do is move to
it!!!
Farming the Great Plains
• In 1862, Congress passed two important land
– grant acts that helped to open up the West
for settlers to move.
• The _________________ __________ gave
government – owned land to small farmers.
– ______acres of land
– Homesteaders paid a small registration fee
– Must live on the land for ____ years
The Morrill Act
• Granted more than 17 million acres of federal
land to the states.
• Required states to use the revenue from
selling this land to build ____________ (Texas
A & M) to teach agriculture and engineering.
Land Rushes and Staking their claims
• The Federal government offered land and
opened up 11 million acres in Oklahoma for
people to stake their claims.
• _____________ people rushed to Oklahoma
for land.
• Far and Away
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxaJY8UZxn4
Settling the Plains
• The Homestead Act granted land not just to
white males.
– __________________
– Immigrants from ________________
– ______________ ______________from the south
• ___________________– because of their exodus, or
mass departure, from the South.
• Wanted better _____________ opportunities and
___________ _____________
Exodusters
• “I one day said to the man I rented [land]
from: “It’s no use, I works hard and raises big
crops and you sells it and keeps the money,
and brings me more and more in debt, so I will
go somewhere else.”
– John Solomon Lewis quoted in Exodusters: Black
Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction, by Nell
Irvin Painter
Farming on the Plains
• Inexpensive, but had
many unique challenges
– Extreme seasons
• -40 degrees in winter
• 110 degrees in summer
– Dry climate
– Deep rooted,
____________ land
– Threat of blizzards and
extreme _____________
Adaptation
• Farmers survived by
developing new farm
equipment and methods
• _________ __________
developed the deep steel
plow
• The hard work of
breaking up the sod
earned the farmers on
the plains the nickname
__________________.
Dry farming
• ___________ ____________ shifted the focus
from water dependent crops to hardier crops.
– Shift from corn to things such as wheat
– Rotated crops and left certain farm land
_____________ to preserve soil and water in the
fields
Cyrus McCormick
• In the 1880’s mechanical farming became
increasingly common.
• Made farming much more efficient
– Great Plains became known as the
“_________________” of the world.
• Cyrus McCormick designed, built, and sold
farm equipment.
– Reapers
– Threshing machines
Daily Life on the Plains
• “When one begins to farm, it takes a great
deal of to get started – especially when one
must begin with nothing.”
– Settlers had to make and mend their own clothing
– No ______________ machines
– Wash soap made from lye
– Building a house
• Very little ___________ available
• Homes built out of brick and sod
Family Life
• ______________ prepared meals and often grew
the vegetables for the family to eat.
– Also raised ______________ and made butter to earn
extra money for the family
• Raised livestock, plowed and planted the fields
• Pioneers had to build their own farm buildings
and repair their own machinery.
• Farm families were often very large and the
______________ helped on the farm.
Communities on the Great Plains
• Because of the isolated and lonely life of
farming on the plains, farmers formed
___________to support one another.
• Established a local church and school
Schools on the Great Plains
• Pioneer schools
– Often built by and run by
community
• Most teachers were young
________________
– __________room buildings
with a _____________ in
the middle of the room
– Children from all grades
attended
– Most students only went
to school only part of year
to help ____________
Sitting Bull
• Vision of soldiers falling
into camp was
interpreted by the Sioux
that they would defeat
the white soldiers at
Little Big Horn
• Killed in 1890 by Sioux
Indian Reservation
police
• Chief and medicine man
of the Hunkpapa Lakota
Group
Jesse James
• Train Robber and Bank
Robber
• Married his first cousin,
Zerelda
• So sought after that
detectives stalked his
mother and threw a
bomb into her cabin,
killing his half – brother
Wild Bill Hickock
• James Butler is his real
name
• Buried next to Calamity
Jane
• Dead Man’s hand
because he was shot
and killed while playing
poker
• Always carried a pair of
pearl-handled pistols
Geronimo
• Apache chief and
medicine man
• Twice captured by Army
generals
• Led the Apache armed
resistance
• Took 5,000 U.S. soldiers
and 500 Apache scouts
to capture him
Crazy Horse
• War leader of the Sioux
who led the Indian
forces at the Battle of
Little Bighorn
• Was stabbed to death
when he tried to escape
capture
• Led an ambush in 1866,
killing 81 cavalry
George Armstrong Custer
• Infamous “last stand” at
the Battle of Little
Bighorn
• “Battle of Greasy Grass”
• Civil War Hero
• Wrote a book, “My Life
on the Plains”
Annie Oakley
• Historic character
behind the Broadway
musical, “Annie Get
your Gun”
• Known for amazing
speed and accuracy
with rifles and pistols
• Could hit a dime in midair from 90 feet
Buffalo Bill Cody
• William
• Supplied buffalo meet
for workers on the
Kansas Pacific Railroad
– 1867 – 15,000,000
– 1890 – 600
• Helped shape the
worlds romantic image
of the west
Butch Cassidy
• Most famous partner was
Sundance Kid
• Earned his nickname as
being a meat-cutter
• Was portrayed by Paul
Newman in a film bearing
his name
• Hideout was at Hold-inthe-Wall in Diamond
Mountains, CO
• Voted whether or not to
kill guards and bankers
Billy the Kid
• Killed 21 men during his
21 year life
• Escaped from a New
Mexico jail twice
• Killed a man with a pen
knife when 14 years old
• Fast draw and short
temper
• Bank and train robber