Americans worked to find ways to deal with the cattle industry’s decline and challenging farming conditions.

Standard : Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map. Standard : Explain how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies. Standard : Identify the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism.

open range: unfenced lands. cattle drive: the herding and moving of cattle over long distances. vaquero: cowhand, or cowboy (Spanish). cow town: settlement at the end of a cattle trail. cattle kingdom: the region dominated by the cattle industry and its ranches, trails, and cow towns.

homesteader: settlers who acquired free land from the government. sod: a surface layer of earth in which the roots of grasses tangle with soil. sodbuster: plains farmers. sooner: a person who sneaked onto the land before the start of the Oklahoma land rush.

grange: groups of farmers who met for lectures, sewing bees, and other events. farm cooperative: groups of farmers who pool their money to make large purchases of tools, seeds, and other supplies. inflation: general rise in prices. William Jennings Bryan

Main Idea & Details 1.Fold 2 papers into 4 sections each for notes. 1.Write down the section heading and the main idea. You will fill in the details at the end of the lesson.

The Rise of the Cattle Industry The coming of railroads gave western ranchers a way to get cattle to distant markets. In spring, cowhands would go on a cattle drive, the herding and moving of cattle over long distances, that would last two to three months. Cattle drives followed well- worn trails such as, the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas

The Rise of the Cattle Industry Cowhands, working long hours for low pay, learned skills developed earlier by Spanish and Mexican vaqueros. Safari Montage Texas, Chapter 3 Cities and Culture of Texas; Chisholm Trail (1 min 53 sec)

The Wild West The West gained an exaggerated reputation for lawlessness and violence. In 1867, Joseph McCoy, an Illinois businessman, founded Abilene, Kansas, where the Chisholm Trail met the Kansas Pacific Railroad. It was the first cow town, or settlement at the end of a cattle trail. Rival cow towns such as Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, soon sprang up along rail lines. Dance halls, saloons, hotels, and restaurants served the cowboys. Soon, the myth of the West as a place of violence, adventure, and endless opportunity spread to the East. Easterners called it the Wild West.

Boom and Bust in the Cattle Kingdom Overstocking and a spell of bad weather eventually put an end to the cattle boom. The cattle boom lasted from the 1860s to the 1880s. In 1886 and 1887, a cycle of scorching summers and frigid winters killed millions of cattle.  An economic depression caused a drop in demand for beef.  Giant cattle ranches slowly gave way to smaller ranches that grew their own feed. Large roundups and long cattle drives vanished.