CATTLE AND COWBOYS

1
CATTLE AND COWBOYS
2
Spanish Influence on Cowboys

• Vaqueros
• Spanish name
• Dress
• Language - Words
• Spurs
• Rodeo
• Ranches
• Food
• Horses

3
LONG HORNS!!

• 1.Unique type of
• cattle
• 2.Roamed the western
• Frontier
• 3. Workers to herd the
• cattle were needed
• 4. The cattle needed to
• be fatten for market
• 5. Markets were as far
• away as Chicago

4
Joseph McCoys Cow Towns

• 1.McCoy saw the need for
• small centers to sell cattle
• and then transport them to
• major cities
• 2. Cowboys had fatten the
• herds for months and were
• ready for sell
• 3. He created cow towns
• 4. The cow towns were
• centers for cowboys who
• had spent months on the
• open range

5
Cow Towns

• 1. McCoy purchased a small
• town named Abilene Kansas
• 2. He created stalls for the
• herding of cattle
• 3. Before this, cattle were taken
• to Chicago NOT A GOOD
• IDEA
• 4. Cow towns quickly sprang up
• 5. Hotels, food, saloons, supply
• stores
• 6. Many towns were built along
• railroads

6
COWBOYS

• Characteristics
• Good horsemen
• Mixed race
• Young men 19-30
• Short
• Talented ropes men
• Not necessarily
• violent or good shots

7
Cattle Trails and Round UpsChisholm Trail most
famous

• 1. Very few cowboys
• worked the herd of cattle
• 2. Cattle on the open
• range to feed
• 3. Dangers
• - Stampedes
• - Native Attack
• - Flash floods/lightning
• - Snakes
• - Injuries
• 4. Cowboy per 300 cows

8
OPEN RANGE GRAZING

• GENERAL FACTS
• 1. Many cowboys were free to
• take their cattle across the open
• plains of the West
• 2. There were few settlers and
• farms to block the movement of
• cattle

• THE RANGE COLLAPSES
• 1. Farmers used barbed wire to
• protect their farms
• 2. Overgrazing of the grasses
• 3. Extreme weather conditions
• killed herds
• 4. Refrigerated train cars