What was the role of cowboys and cattlemen in the exploitation of the Plains?

1. What was the role of cowboys and cattlemen in the exploitation of the Plains? Key Topic 4: Settlement and Conflict on the Plains 1861-77 • The Civil War • The Plains Indians • The Open Range • Demands in the East • The railroads • Cow towns • US army • Goodnight and Iliff Starter- Recap; using these key factors create a mind map and explain how the cattle industry developed Extension-explain what you think was the main reason and why?

2. Key words/concepts; Summarise • Cowboys: a man who herds and tends cattle, performing much of his work on horseback. • Cattlemen: a person who tends or rears cattle • Ranchers: a person who owns or runs a ranch. • Cow towns: a town or city in a cattle-raising area of western North America. A small, isolated, or unsophisticated town • Cattle Trails: atrail over which cattle were driven to market. Trail - a path or track roughly blazed through wild or hilly country(The Great Plains)

3. Why Did Ranchers Start “Driving” Cattle? $ $ It’s all about the money… Even the Natives knew that the most important thing to most whites was money. (Remember the chief who compared the Native’s buffalo to the White’s money?) The Cattle Business in Texas became profitable after the Civil War for three main reasons… Trail Driving was Economical: Only 12 cowhands were needed per 2000 head of cattle at a cost of only $1 a head. The Expansion of the Railroads: Railroads in the 1860s and 1870s expanded westward allowing ranchers the opportunity to get their cattle to these markets “up east”. They would drive cattle to railroad towns and put them on the train to the Chicago and St. Louis stockyards. The Price of Cattle in the North and East and the High Demand for BEEF: The price of cattle in the Southwest was about $4 a head… the same steer went for $30 to $40 a head “up east”. =

4. Cowboys and cattlemen- an overview • Cattle could not drive themselves northwards to the markets! • They needed the cowboys to guide them. 1860 - 1880 was the high point of the cowboy era • Young men from many different backgrounds, white, black and Spanish became cowboys • Their job was to escort the herds from Texas to the markets along the set Trails. It was a very hard life, with low pay and cowboys were always short of sleep when on the Long Drive • Cowboys continued to be important in the cattle industry during the time of the Open Range on the Plains. They did the job of patrolling the edges of the vast ranches, protecting the cattle and rounding them up when it was time for the herd to go to market • There main job was to protect cattle through the trails to make their way to the cow towns and transport destinations

5. Chisholm Trail • Cowboys drive cattle along cattle trails to reach their markets. The cattle industry continued to develop and thrive with the emergence of cow towns- places where cattle could be bought, sold and transported on. • In 1867, the Chisholm trail was developed. Historians estimate that 6 million cattle made their way up the Chisholm Trail from 1867 to the mid 1880s … that’s a lot of beef! Chisholm Trail: cattle trail from Texas to Kansas, then loaded onto railroads & shipped East.

6. Head ‘em up and move ‘em out • Historians estimate that 35,000 cowboys herded cows among western trails in the second half of the 19th century. • About 9,000 of them were black cowboys. • After the slaves were freed, many moved out west to work on Texas ranches. • Others had already lived in Texas and herded cattle for their masters. • Black and white cowboys worked, ate, and slept together. Though racial discrimination still existed, the black cowboys of Texas were treated much better on the range than anywhere else.

7. Point Swing Flank Point Flank Swing Wrangler Remuda Chuck wagon Trail Boss Drag This diagram shows a typical cattle drive formation. TYPICAL CATTLE DRIVE FORMATION The Pointers guided the cattle in the desired direction; the Swing Riders, behind the Pointers, assisted in guiding the cattle, and in keeping the herd in formation. The Flank Riders worked at keeping the formation intact. The Drag Riders, the most undesirable position because of the dust , depending upon the wind, kept the weaker, lagging cattle from slowing the formation down.

8. How did tensions increase with the development of cattle ranches? PEE • Overtime cattlemen realised they could make more money if they kept their cattle on the Plains rather than driving them to the cow towns all the time- growth of ranches and conflicts with Natives e.g. Cheyenne. • They exploited the availability of ‘free grass’ and water as they set up the ranches- on land that was not theirs. • Ranches tended to fence in their water supplies which annoyed Indians and homesteaders alike and led to many conflicts and wars overtime (look at in future lessons) • The government allowed cattle ranchers to use pubic land as open range, or free grazing land. This access to free pastureland helped make cattle ranching profitablebut caused many conflicts internally. • The cattle operations in their massive quantities led to huge over grazing on the Great Plains

9. Conflicts on the Plains- summarise • Read pages 82-83 of OCR American West book • Answer this Q: Briefly describe the problems which existed between ranchers and homesteaders on the Great Plains

10. The end of the Cattle Boom The cattle boom lasted about 20 years. It ended because of several factors: 1. Prices of beef dropped due to oversupply • Invention of barbed wire in 1874 meant that farmers started enclosing their properties and open range ended. Cattle ranching became more expensive Differences in the concept of private property. American Indians believed the land belonged to everyone and therefore couldn’t be bought and sold. The settlers believed they could buy land. This is the reason why more often than not, Indians were cheated out of their landleading to many battles and making natives very unhappy with their policy of concentration- Reservation Policy.

11. Plenary- True or false? (copy and complete) • Black cowboys were treated better than Black African Americans • The main conflicts between cattlemen, homesteaders and natives was over their exploitation of the land and water supplies • The main reason the Cattle Boom ended was because Natives fought to put an end to it TRUE TRUE FALSE