Cattle Trails and the End of the Open Range

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Cattle Trails and the End of the Open Range

• 1867-1890

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How did it begin?

• Cows were brought to the New World by the
  Spanish.
• Used ropes and horses to round up stray cattle
• Raised cattle on the open range
• Cows were put into corrals and marked with the
  brand of the ranch

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Anglo-American Ranchers

• Used English cattle raising techniques
• Worked with much smaller herds that were fenced
  in (barbed wire)
• Worked on foot instead of horseback
• Used both Spanish and English methods to develop
  their own style of ranching

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Chisholm Trail

• Chisholm Trail- first of the great trails opened
  by Jesse Chisholm in 1867. The trail started in
  different places in South TX and went north to
  the railroads in Abilene and Ellsworth, Kansas.

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Jesse Chisholm
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Western Trail

• Trail started by John Lytle in 1874 that started
  in South TX near Brownsville and went north into
  Dodge City, Kansas.

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Goodnight-Loving Trail

• Trail started by Oliver Loving and Charles
  Goodnight that went up the Pecos River into New
  Mexico and up into Wyoming. Charles Goodnight
  also established the first cattle ranch in the
  Panhandle.

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Charles Goodnight Oliver Loving
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Life on the Trail

• Drives began with a roundup
• Unbranded cattle were marked to prove ownership
• Cows then separated into herds
• Owners hired agents to drive their hers to market
• Paid 1 per head delivered to market
• Scouts rode in front of the herd to select the
  best route
• Herd always traveled north
• Alerted trail boss to dangers
• Bad weather, Indian tribes, and outlaws
• Trail boss had complete authority over the drive
• Cowhands
• Pointers (highly skilled cowhands) rode at the
  side of the lead cattle to direct the herd
• Flankers rode beside the herd, kept cattle from
  straying too far
• Other cowhands rode in the rear (drag position)
  to keep cattle from straying behind
• Wranglers took care of the extra horses
• Men would switch horses a few times a day to keep
  the horses from tiring

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• Camp cook rose early to prepare breakfast
• Coffee, biscuits, beef, and beans
• Cook would then ride ahead in the chuck wagon to
  the next campsite
• Would have dinner ready when they arrived
• Cowhands gathered around the campfire at night
  and sang songs

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Cattle Ranches

• King Ranch- founded by Richard King and his
  partner Mifflin Kennedy in Kingsville, TX covered
  more than 1 million acres of land.

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Kingsville, TX
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JA Ranch

• Established by Charles Goodnight and his partner
  John Adair in 1876 in the Palo Duro Canyon (the
  Panhandle of TX, southeast of Amarillo). The
  ranch included more than 1 million acres and
  100,000 head of cattle and was the first cattle
  ranch in the Panhandle.

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JA Ranch southeast of Amarillo in Palo Duro Canyon
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Matador Ranch

• Founded by investors A.M. Britton and H. H.
  Campbell on a homestead in Motley County in 1878.
  A Scottish company purchased it in 1882 and
  acquired land in several states and Canada.

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XIT Ranch

• The largest ranch in TX that was located in the
  Panhandle, along the New Mexico border. It
  covered more than 3 million acres near Lubbock up
  north to the Oklahoma border. The land for the
  ranch was provided by the TX government in
  exchange for the construction of a new capitol.
  The contractor who built the capitol turned the
  land over to a group of Chicago and British
  investors.

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XIT Ranch
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Cattle and Sheep Ranching Origins

• Both cattle and sheep were originally brought to
  TX by Spanish explorers and settlers. Ranches in
  TX were not only cattle ranches but many started
  sheep ranches for their wool and goat ranches for
  their hair. For a time during the ranching boom,
  TX was the leading wool-producing state in the
  nation.

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Longhorn and Sheep
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The end of the open range

• In 1873 Joseph F. Glidden created barbed wire to
  help ranchers with their problem of keeping their
  cattle separated from each other. It would also
  help farmers so that the cattle could not eat
  their crops.

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Barbed Wire
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Problems with barbed wire

• Cowboys and other people in TX were against
  barbed wire because it was bringing an end to the
  open range. In the 1870s and 1880s fence cutting
  became a problem by cattle rustlers and others
  who did not want the open range to end. The
  state of TX passed laws to stop fence cutting.
• Rustler- A cattle thief. These people were the
  biggest problem faced by cattle ranchers in the
  late 1800s.

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Windmills

• The windmill made it possible for cattle owners
  to fence in their cattle. They were able to pump
  water from underground sources especially in dry
  West TX. Ranchers did not have to depend on
  sources of surface water and let their cattle
  roam to find them.

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Windmills Then and Now

• Windmills were first created to pump water from
  underground sources. As time has passed,
  scientists have found that by harnessing the
  wind, they could produce electricity. Wind is a
  renewable resource and windmills today are still
  used to pump water and also create electricity.

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Windmill on XIT Ranch
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Windmill
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Windmill Farm