Unit One: The Wild West
The Cattle Kingdom
The Cattle Kingdom
• The next mass movement of people into the
West was into the Southern Plains area of Texas
and surrounding areas to ranch and herd cattle
on what was called the Cattle Frontier.
• At the end of the Civil War and after the cattle
industry in the East was destroyed by the war
and there was a massive influx of immigrants
into the Eastern Coast cities, a new source of
meat (cattle) was needed.
• These conditions and the rising prices in cattle
led to cattle herding on the Great Plains and the
growth of the Cattle Kingdom.
The Cattle Kingdom
• The Cattle Kingdom developed on large open
field estates called ranches in Texas.
• The Texas ranchers rounded up
wild cattle herds that roamed the
area after the Spanish had left
called Texas Longhorns.
• The Texas Longhorns were rough & durable,
but were known as “the butcher’s nightmare:
eight pounds of hamburger on 800 pounds of
bone and horn.”
• To identify cattle herds, a brand
was burned into the cows side
with a hot iron poker.
The Cattle Kingdom
• The people who worked on the cattle ranches
were mostly Civil War veterans that included
Freedmen (blackmen), Native Americans, and
Hispanics known as Cowboys or Wranglers.
(buckaroo, cowpoke, cowhand, and
cowpuncher)
• The Cattle were herded on the open range
(large public domain grassland of the Plains)
and allowed to graze across it known as free
range cattle.
• Cattle found with no brandings were called
mavericks and were claimed by anyone who
found them.
Cowboy Terminology
• Lariat – a rope used to catch cattle. (the loop is
called a hondo)
• Lasso – the action of roping a cow.
• Spurs – metal device placed on a boot to aid in
walking and riding.
• Chaps – leather wore on the legs to provide
protection.
• Bandana – cloth worn on face to block out dust.
• Saddle – a leather seat attached to a horse.
• Stirrup – hung from the saddle to place feet in
while riding.
Cowboy Terminology
• Cowboy Hat – various size hats that developed
from the Mexican sombrero, invented by John
Stetson called the “Boss of the Plains”.
• Rodeo – was a competition between cowboys
on various skills.
• Mustang or Bronco – A wild untamed horse that
roamed the open range, was “broke” or “busted”
for riding. (stallion-male, mare-female)
• Bridle – placed around the horse’s head to
control (reins – leather straps used to steer the
horse)
• Gun – most used a Colt .45 peacemaker
(usually a six shooter), some also carried a long
arm or rifle (most popular was the Winchester
repeater).
Cowboy Equipment
Cattle Kingdom
• The cattle needed to be driven from the
Plains region to railhead cities (place where
the train stopped) to be shipped back east to
be butchered.
• To get the cattle to the railheads, cowboys
took the cattle on long drives (marches).
• The long drives were lonely, dangerous, and
hard on the cowboys.
• The long drives were hard on the cattle
causing weight loss, also during the
transportation to regional slaughtering
centers like Chicago (Armour and Swift
slaughterhouses and meatpacking
companies) cattle would die or become sick.
Cattle Kingdom
• One thing that helped the Cattle Kingdom
develop into a major business was the
invention of the refrigerated railway car by
Gustavus Swift (actually designed by
Andrew Chase).
• This allowed slaughtered meat to be
transported to further locations allowing for
the meat packing industry to grow, thus
creating demand for more meat.
• Before cow the choice meat of Americans
was pork. (was smoked and salted, highly
unhealthy)
Cattle Kingdom
• The long drive crews included a trail
captain, chuck wagon (cook), pointers (led
the herd) and drags (prevented stragglers
or weak cattle).
• The four most dominate cattle trails of the
long drives were the Sedalia and Baxter
Trail, Chisholm Trail, Western Trail, and
Goodnight-Loving Trail.
• During a long drive if the cattle became
scared or spooked and ran uncontrollably
this was called a stampede.
The Cattle Trails
Cattle Kingdom
• Along the Western railways railhead towns
called cow towns developed for the
purpose of holding, selling, and distribution
of cattle.
• Cow towns worked on the same boom and
bust system as mining towns and looked
just the same.
• The different cow towns that developed
were: Abilene (first started by Joseph
McCoy), Dodge City, Laramie, Ellsworth,
Sedalia and etc.
Cattle Kingdom
• Cow towns were rough and dangerous places
which were controlled mostly by vigilante lynch
mob justice.
• In Texas law enforcement was taken care of by
the Texas Rangers.
• For most of the Plains region federal law
enforcement was taken care of by U.S.
Marshals.
• The frontier life of the “Wild” West created a
national phenomenon of stories and myths of life
in the West. (the West was only “Wild” for less
than thirty years)
Wild West Fact vs. Myth
• The Western frontier created famous
marshals such as Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill
Hickok.
• Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down in
Deadwood Colorado by Jack McCall while
playing poker. (he was holding the
deadman’s hand, pair of aces and eights, all
black)
• Wyatt Earp was famous for jobs in Dodge
City, and the shoot out at the OK Corral in
Tombstone with Doc Holiday and his brothers
against a group of Cowboys recognized by
their red sashes.
Famous Marshals
Wyatt Earp
Wild Bill Hickok
Wild West Fact vs. Myth
• The West also created famous outlaws
such as Calamity Jane, Jesse James, Billy
the Kid, and Butch Cassidy.
• Calamity Jane was a gunfighter and
companion of Wild Bill Hickok.
• Jesse James became famous for robbing
trains and banks after the Civil War with
the James-Younger Gang, he was killed by
Robert Ford.
Famous Outlaws
Calamity Jane
Jesse James
Wild West Fact vs. Myth
• Billy the Kid (aka William H. Bonney) became
famous during the well- known Lincoln County
Wars (Range War) between Tuntsall/McSween
(ranchers/regulators) and the Murphys
(General store monopoly).
– Billy the Kid was “shot” and “killed” by Pat
Garrett.
• Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy) was the
leader of the famous bank/train robbing Wild
Bunch Gang.
– Butch Cassidy and Harry Alonzo
Longabaugh (Sundance Kid) were shot
together in a standoff with police in Bolivia.
Famous Outlaws
The Wild Butch
Billy the Kid
Wild West Fact vs. Myth
• The myth of the wild west was spread by small
books called dime novels that were widely read
during the time.
• One was a famous series of novels wrote by
Edward Wheeler about a fictional character
called Deadwood Dick. (thought to be a black
cowboy Nat Love)
• Another was the Western novel The Virginian by
Owen Wister (father of western fiction) that
romanticized the cowboy life.
• William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody also expanded the
idea of the Wild West through his Wild West
Shows featuring fighting cowboys and Indians,
Chief Sitting Bull, and cowgirl Annie Oakley.
Wild West Fact vs. Myth
• The Dime novels and the Wild West Shows
developed the stereotype (exaggerated or
oversimplified) story of the Western Frontier.
• In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner
introduced the Turner Thesis stating that the
American Frontier life had shaped and modeled
the character of American people, but excluded
the effect of various ethnic groups and business
involvement.
• He also said that the frontier acted as a safety
valve for discontented city people as an
opportunity for success and kept down uprisings
in cities.
End of the Open Range
• The Open Range came to a halt when the
bubble on cattle prices fell and bad
weather conditions, but the biggest cause
was the fencing off of the Plains by
farmers due to the invention
of barb wire by Joseph Gilden.
• The effect of the Cattle Kingdom was the
increased mileage of railroads, the
creation of towns to civilize the west for
famers, but the biggest was the mass
destruction of the wild Buffalo.
The “End” of the Buffalo
• During the 1840s to 1880s the Buffalo were
hunted to almost extinction with as few as
1,100 left in 1889.
• The Buffalo were killed in huge
numbers for their hide and
tongues.
• Many buffalo were just shot
by people from trains, just for
sport. (the carcass was left to rot)
• The mass killing of the buffalo
was also a direct cause of the Indian Wars
during this period.