1. Cattle Kingdoms

2. Spanish Origins The Spanish brought cattle and horses to Texas
Spanish cows mixed with heavier animals brought by Anglos
This resulted in the lean and tough Texas longhorn
Spanish vaqueros, or cowboys developed skills in riding, roping, herding, and branding
They used lariats to round up cattle

3. Spanish Origins

5. Influence of Civil War
Civil War ending marked the beginning of the cattle boom
New markets opened up for Texas ranchers as population grew
Longhorns worth $3-$4 in Texas but $30-$40 in the Eastern United States
Large supply and high demand for beef created great profits for Texas ranchers
Cattle boom helped Texas recover from the war

6. Cattle Trails
The Northern demand for beef led to the rise of the cattle trails
Cattle drives began with a roundup
Drove the herds to towns with rail stations
Sent by rail to Northern states where they would be slaughtered for meat
Ranchers made LARGE profits moving a herd to market

7. Cattle Trails

8. Problems with Cattle Trails
Bandits stole cattle
Farmers complained…
Cattle trampled their crops
Longhorns spread “Texas Fever” to their cows
Some states passed quarantine laws to keep Texas cattle away
Quarantine – isolate or separate to prevent the spread of disease

9. Famous Trails Chisholm Trail
The route between Abilene, Texas and Kansas
Jesse Chisholm used this route to ship goods north from Texas to Kansas
1871 – 600,000 cattle moved north on the trail
1884 – 5 million cattle traveled on the trail

10. Famous Trails Great Western Trail
Opened in 1874 by drover John T. Lytle
Drover – person who moves livestock to market
Developed to the west of the Chisholm Trail
Ran from Indian Territory to Dodge City, Kansas and then north to a rail station in Nebraska

11. Famous Trails Goodnight–Loving Trail
Trail blazed by Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving
Chose this route to avoid the hostile Plains Indians
Ran from West Texas through New Mexico, into Colorado and finally Wyoming
Towns grew up along the trails and were known for violence and lawlessness

12. Famous Trails

13. Life on the Trail
Cowboys rounded up cattle into a central camp in early spring
They branded the animals and divided them into herds
A typical herd numbered about 3,000 head of cattle
A trail boss (manager) planned the cattle drive

14. Life on the Trail
Trail boss decided how many men – usually including a cook and scout
They brought good horses – the spare horses were called the remuda
Trail boss picked the route and responsible for success of cattle drive
He made $100 for a month of work
Cooks – $75
Horse wranglers – $50
Waddies, or trail hands – $25-$40

15. Life on the Trail Two skilled cowboys, called pointers, led the cattle
Two or three more cowboys rode on each side, or flank, of the herd
Several rode in back, called drags, to make sure the weak animals did not fall behind
Cowboys spent 2 hours on guard duty
A herd moved about miles a day
Cattle sometimes broke into a stampede

16. Cowboys Cowboys were in their teens to mid-20s
Small build – large men were too big for the horses
2/3 were white/Anglo
1/3 were African American, Mexican, or Tejano
Daily life was boring, dirty work
Some rode up to 36 hours in saddle
Storms, dust, heat, rattlesnakes and river crossings made life unpleasant

17. Cowboys

18. Cowboys
Frank Hastings, a prosperous rancher described the difficult job of putting a cattle drive crew together: “The foreman and wagon boss had been through the aggravating experience of getting an outfit together. It had been no trouble to find riders, but to secure a cook, a “hoss wrangler”, and hoodlum wagon driver was a problem. No one wants to drive the hoodlum wagon with the duties of supplying wood and water for camp and branding, helping the cook with dishes, or other odd jobs. The “hoss wrangler” was not hard to find but whoever takes the job aches all the time to be promoted to a riding job, and is therefore dissatisfied.”

19. Female Cowboys Some women became rich and powerful Lizzie E. Johnson
Early Texas “cattle queen”
First woman to ride the Chisholm Trail with a herd under her own brand
Margaret Heffernan Borland
Took over the family business after her husband died
In 1873, she became the only woman to lead a cattle drive

20. Female Cowboys
Margaret H. Borland
Lizzie E. Johnson

21. Big Ranches
By the late 1870s, land and cattle companies owned more than HALF the land in West Texas
Ranchers soon enclosed nearly all the rangeland in South Texas
This brought an end to the big cattle drives
Huge ranches spread out across Texas

22. King Ranch
Richard King started with 15,000 acres in Nueces County in 1852
When King died in 1885, he owned more than 600,000 acres
His widow Henrietta and his son-in-law, Robert Kleberg doubled the size of the ranch
The King ranch grew to more than ONE MILLION ACRES, about as large as the state of Rhode Island

24. King Ranch
Headquarters
Kingsville, TX
Richard
King

25. JA Ranch Charles Goodnight’s JA Ranch was located in the Panhandle
It covered more than one million acres by the late 1880s
The ranch supported 100,000 cattle
Goodnight improved his cattle through careful breeding
His ranch produced some of the nation’s finest beef

26. JA Ranch
Charles
Goodnight

27. XIT Ranch XIT was another large Panhandle ranch
It enclosed more than 3 million acres, surrounded by 6,000 miles of barbed wire fence
XIT was almost as large as the state of Connecticut
Group of investors from Chicago, John and Charles Farwell, owned the XIT
Received land after building a new capitol in Austin in 1888

28. Charles and John Farwell
XIT Ranch
Charles and John Farwell

29. Other Texas Ranches Sheep industry thrived in Central and South Texas
By 1886, Texans owned nearly 5 million sheep
Goat ranching also expanded in Texas in the late 1800s
Some Texans owned mustang ranches
Mustangs are wild horses and thousands lived on the plains

30. Quiz
Why did some states pass quarantine laws to keep Texas cattle away from areas? A. to keep the cattle from destroying private property B. to keep children from being hurt by cattle C. to prevent crops from being trampled D. to prevent the spread of disease Spanish cowboys used lariats to … A. brand their animals B. round up the cattle from horseback C. secure their supplies to the saddle D. make coffee over an open fire