June 2010 Am. West (12 marks)
Q3 – Why did the lives of cowboys change between 1865 and 1880?
The traditional image of a cowboy has been closely connected with his lifestyle.
Cowboys initially worked in Texas, rearing cows to be sold for beef, but after 1865
their lives began to change because of the aftermath of the US Civil War, the new
methods of cattle rearing and the invention of new technology.
Cowboys originated in Texas, which, until 1848, belonged to Mexico. Here, they
reared cows to be sold for beef, mainly in and around Texas itself. The job of the
cowboy was often seen as exciting and it later attracted lots of young men seeking
adventure. However, although some aspects of the job could be seen as exciting, it
was mostly boring, lonely and hard work and only those tough enough could survive
it. The jobs mainly included looking after the cows to ensure their safety, and
‘driving’ them from one place to another. This involved long hours in the saddle in
all types of weather (hot in the day, cold at night, rain and thunderstorms), often
eating and sleeping out in the open for days on end. They were also exposed to
many dangers eg Indian attacks, cattle rustlers, inclement weather and stampeding
cattle. The excitement came during the ‘spring round up’ when all cowboys came
together to round up the cows and take them to market. This involved many skills
which cowboys could learn and demonstrate such as good horsemanship, lassoing,
roping and branding. Cowboys’ pay reflected these skills and they could earn
promotion and better pay.
However, in the period 1865 to 1880 and beyond, this lifestyle changed. The US
Civil War between 1861 and 1864 involved the Northern and Southern states of the
US mainly in the East, but Texas declared loyalty for the South and, as a result,
many Texan cowboys headed East to fight for the South. Consequently, the cow
herds in Texas were neglected and grew larger. When the surviving cowboys
returned in 1865, they found a surplus of cows (around 5 million) which they couldn’t
sell in Texas. The answer was to find new markets in the north and east. As the
transcontinental railroad had not yet reached across the Plains (not completed until
1869), cowboys were hired to drive the cows up from Texas, north to the railroad
points that did exist. Therefore, cattle trails, like the Goodnight-Loving trail were
established and after the spring round up, cows were driven along these trails. This
didn’t change the lifestyle of the cowboys significantly as they still had the same jobs
to do, but these now included the cattle drive. Cattle owners could make a lot of
money and the cattle industry began to thrive.
By 1867 the first cowtown, Abilene, was established at a railway point. Its founder,
Joseph McCoy, had realised that he couldn’t get a good price for his cows after the
cattle drives as the cows were exhausted and too ‘scrawny’. McCoy set up Abilene
as a place where buyers and sellers could meet, to trade cattle. Cowboys would
drive the cows to Abilene (and later other cowtowns like Wichita, Dodge City), but
instead of putting them on the trains straight away, the cows would be put into pens
for a few weeks where they could be fattened up on the free grassland of the Plains.
This meant the cows would be worth more money when they were sold. The
cowboys life changed slightly with the onset of the cowtowns as once the cows were
penned up, the cowboy had little to do. As they would then be paid at the end of the
cattle drive, cowtowns quickly became places with a bad reputation for lawlessness
eg drunken fights and murders, gambling and prostitution, mostly involving the
cowboys before they headed back to Texas.
As the demand for beef increased, cattle owners realised it would be better to rear
cattle on ranches on the Plains, rather than in Texas. This would eliminate the need
for cattle drives altogether. John Iliff was one of the first to set up a ranch to provide
beef to the Indian reservations of the southern Plains in the 1870s. These ranchers
practised ‘open range ranching’ where cows were allowed to wander freely on the
Plains. Here, the jobs of the cowboys were similar to those in Texas eg watching
and driving the cows, the round up, branding and roping. The cows would then be
driven to the railroad point, but this would be a much shorter journey than the cattle
drives of the 1860s. Therefore, the life of a cowboy changed only slightly as they
were involved in mainly the same tasks as before, but with the opportunity of
returning to the ranch from time to time.
However, this method of ‘open range ranching’ had many problems as it was easy
for cows to be lost or stolen and there were often problems when they wandered
onto homesteaders land, destroying crops etc. Conflict often broke out between
cowboys and homesteaders over access to watering holes and between different
ranchers over ownership of cows as brands could easily be changed. A new method
of ranching solved these problems. This was ‘closed range ranching’. This became
very popular later on after the disastrous winter of 1886-87 when many cow herds
were lost as cows froze to death in the unusually extreme temperatures. Closed
range ranching radically changed the lives of cowboys. It relied on new technology
which was being used effectively by the homesteaders. It involved the fencing off of
large areas of land in which to enclose the cows to keep them secure. This was
done by putting up barbed wire fences (as wood was in very short supply). The
grass could then be better managed, allowing only a certain area to be grazed
before the cows were moved on to another area, thus allowing the grass to regrow.
Cows also needed water and so the portable wind pump was erected to supply this.
Cows were allowed to wander freely within the fenced area but weren’t in danger of
getting out or lost. Cattle owners could begin to experiment with interbreeding to
produce cows which could produce more milk or beef without the problems of other
cows interfering. These new methods and new technology significantly changed the
lives of cowboys. Now their main job was ‘riding the line’ up and down the barbed
wire fences to check for problems and mend any broken sections. Cowboys moved
the cows between different fenced off areas and moved the wind pump every few
weeks to allow grass to regrow and they moved cows to the railway point when they
were ready for market. These new jobs didn’t need any skills and so the cowboy’s
job became one of a labourer, a job that almost anyone could do. This was
reflected in their pay which was reduced. There was a positive side to these
changes as cowboys returned to the bunkhouse on the ranch at night and began to
enjoy some ‘home comforts’ instead of being out all night with the cows.
Thus, by 1880, the life of the cowboy had changed significantly due to the aftermath
of the US Civil War, the new methods employed in the cattle industry such as cattle
drives, cowtowns, open and closed range ranching and finally the new technology of
barbed wire and wind pumps.