The Growth of the Cattle Industry

Chapter 13 Section 2

I The Cattle Industry Becomes Big BusinessA. The First Cowboys

• Horses and cattle introduced by the Spanish• Spanish settlers used horses for work &

Longhorn for food• Longhorn flourished in Mexican plains Spanish employing Aztec prisoners as vaqueros AKA cowboys• As herds grew vaqueros learned to use

horses to manage the herds• These first cowboys became expert

riders and skilled at the use of la reata• La reata = the lariat (laso)

•Ranchers & vaqueros travel north to provide food for silver miners• Eventually teach Pueblo

Indians how to ride & rope•Others cross the Rio Grande and settle in Texas & Great Plains•Over yrs. Cattle and horses

escaped and flourished in US as they had in Mexico

B. Influence of Mexican Culture• American cowboy culture stems

directly from Spanish ranchers in Mexico• Amer. Learned how to manage herds on

open range from their Mexican neighbors• American cowboy clothes, food, &

vocab influence by Mexican Cowboys• Mexican vaquero first to use spurs• Chaparreras = leather overalls AKA

Chaps• Charqui= dried strips of meat AKA Jerky• Caballo Bronco = “rough horse” AKA

Bronco

•Amer. Cowboy adopts and adds to vaquero way of life• Bandanna such a staple

that it was requested to be official flag of open range

• Six-shooter = gun that could fire 6 shots w/o reloading• Came to symbolize

cowboy & the entire Old West

C. The Importance of the Railroad & City Dwellers Demand More Beef• Cowboys were not successful until the

RR reached the west• Pre Civil War cowboys rarley left

homesteads and sold to local markets• After civil war cities grew and so did

demand for beef• Cowboys could ship their cattle on RR

from Mizzou to the east blockade from farmers• McCoy (Illinois) purchases land and build

RR ranchers hiring cowboys to drive their cattle to Albien (RR station)

II The Truth about Cowboys• Cowboy owned his saddle but horse

belonged to his boss• Prob never shot anyone as they as

portrayed in movies to conduct “hold ups”

• Cowboy season begins w/ roundup rode in open range and round up as many longhorns as they could into a coral• Branded the longhorn that was theirs

• Trail boss then chose a crew for the long drive• Drive to RR tracks in Abilene

IV The End of the Cattle Frontier• Natural disasters contributed to the

end of the cattle frontier• Overgrazing destroyed the plains• Drought caused land to dry up grasslands

and turn it into a desert• Invention of barbed wire also

contributed to the end of the cattle frontier• Ranchers turned to high-grade stock that

yielded more meat than free grazing longhorn• Ranchers fenced in land w/ barbed wire to

keep cattle from straying the end of wide open west