The cow drive , was a major economic activity in 19th century Western America, especially between 1856 and 1896. In this period, 27 million cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Arkansas, for shipments to stockyards in Louisiana and pointing east. Distant distances are closed, the need for periodic breaks by riders and animals, and the formation of railheads led to the development of "cattle towns" on the border.
Due to extensive cattle rearing in fiction and film, the horse has become an iconic image in West America, where cattle drives still occur.
Video Cattle drives in the United States
Livestock movement
Cattle represent a compromise between the desire to get cattle to the market as quickly as possible and the need to keep animals with marketable weights. While cattle can be ridden as far as 25 miles (40 km) in a day, they will lose so much weight that they will be difficult to sell when they reach the end of the road. Usually they take a shorter distance each day, allowing periods of rest and grazing either at noon and at night. On average, flocks can maintain a healthy weight moving about 15 miles (24 km) per day. Such speed means that it takes two months to travel from the ranch house to a relief. The Chisholm Trail, for example, is 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long.
On average, one herd of cattle on a long journey (eg, Texas to Kansas railheads) amounts to about 3,000 heads. To graze cattle, it takes at least 10 cowboys with three horses per cowboy. Cowboys work in turns to keep an eye on the cattle 24 hours a day, herding them in the right direction during the day and watching them at night to prevent the stamp and prevent theft. The crew also included a chef, who rode a chuck cart, usually pulled by a cow, and a horse puller to take over remuda (spare horse). Wranglers on cattle drives often become very young cowboys or one of the lower social statuses, but the chef is a highly respected member of the crew, as not only is he in charge of food, he is also responsible for medical supplies and has knowledge practical about drugs.
Maps Cattle drives in the United States
Origins
Long haul hauling is traditional in Mexico, California and Texas, and horse cattle are sometimes also encouraged. The Spaniards had established the livestock industry in the New World, and began riding flocks north of Mexico from the 1540s. Small Spanish settlements in Texas derive much of their income from horses and cattle being pushed into Louisiana, although such trades are usually illegal. Cattle in the distance also occur in the United States, although rare. Long-distance pigs are also common. In 1815, Timothy Flint "discovered the encouragement of over 1,000 cows and pigs" driven from the interior of Ohio to Philadelphia.
In early 1836, farmers in Texas began riding cattle along the "Beef Trail" to New Orleans. In the 1840s, the impetus of cattle extended northward to Missouri. City of Sedalia, Baxter Springs, Springfield, and St. Louis became the main market. The Shawnee Trail, also known as the Texas Road or Texas trail, played an important role in Texas in the early 1840s. But in 1853, when 3,000 livestock were trailed in western Missouri, local farmers blocked their paths and forced the cattle to return because Longhorns brought fleas carrying a Texas fever. Texas cows are immune to the disease; but the lice they leave behind infect local cattle. In 1855 peasants in western and central Missouri formed a vigilance committee, stopped some herds of cattle, killed Texas livestock entering their territory, and a law, which became effective in December of that year, was passed, prohibiting sick livestock brought to or through the state. Therefore, drovers take their cattle through the eastern end of Kansas; but there too, they met with opposition from peasants, who encouraged their territorial legislature to pass a protection law in 1859.
During the 1850s, emigration and deliveries from the Missouri River to the west also led to an increase in demand for oxen. In 1858, Russell, Major and Waddell companies used about 40,000 oxen. Longhorns are trained by thousands of calf workers. Flocks of longhorns were also pushed into Chicago, and at least one flock was pushed all the way to New York. The gold explosion in California in the 1850s also created a demand for beef and gave people cash to pay for it. So, although most cattle are locally or from Mexico, a very long journey has been tried. Even Australians began pushing livestock to port for beef delivery to San Francisco and, after freezing methods developed, all the way to England. In 1853, the Italian nobleman, Leonetto Cipriani traveled from St. Petersburg. Louis to San Francisco along the California Trail; he returned to Europe in 1855 with great profits.
In the early years of the American Civil War, Texans pushed cattle into Confederate nations for the use of the Confederate Army. In October, 1862 a Union naval patrol on the southern Mississippi River captured 1,500 heads of Longhorns who had been destined for Confederate military posts in Louisiana. The permanent loss of the main livestock supply after the Union over the Mississippi River in 1863 was a serious blow to the Confederate Army.
The war blocked access to eastern markets. During the Civil War, the Shawnee Line was barely used. The number of Texas cattle grew significantly in that period, and after the war could not be sold for more than $ 2 per head in Texas. In 1866 an estimated 200,000 to 260,000 surplus cattle were available.
In 1865 at the end of the Civil War, Philip Danforth Armor opened a meat packing factory in Chicago known as Armor and Company, and with the expansion of the meat packing industry, demand for beef increased significantly. In 1866, livestock could be sold to the northern market for as much as $ 40 per head, thus potentially beneficial for livestock, especially from Texas, to be dribbled remotely into the market.
The cattle driving era
The first large-scale effort to move cattle from Texas to the nearest relhead for delivery to Chicago occurred in 1866, when many Texas ranch owners united to propel their cattle to the nearest point reached by the railroad, which at the time was Sedalia, Missouri.. However, farmers in eastern Kansas, still worried that transient animals will step on plants and spread cattle fever to local cattle, forming groups threatening to hit or shoot the breeders found on their land. Therefore, the 1866 drive failed to reach the railroad tracks and the cattle were sold at a low price. There is another drive north with no definite purpose and without much financial success. Livestock was also driven to the old but limited market of New Orleans, following the most established footprints to the Shreveport and Jefferson, Texas docks. In 1868, David Morrill Poor, a former Confederate officer from San Antonio, drove 1,100 cattle from east San Angelo to Mexico via the Chihuahua Line. The event, "Chihuahua Cattle Drive," was the largest livestock business ever undertaken during the trip up to that point, but the market was much better in Kansas than in Mexico, so most drives headed north.
In 1867, Joseph G. McCoy's livestock delivery facility opened in Abilene, Kansas. Built to the west of the agricultural country and close to the reliefs in Abilene, the city became the center of cattle shipping, loading over 36,000 head of cattle in its first year. The route from Texas to Abilene is known as the Chisholm Line, named after Jesse Chisholm that marks the route. It ran through present-day Oklahoma, which later was the Indian Territory, but there was relatively little conflict with Native Americans, who usually let cattle cross at a cost of ten cents per head. Later, other roads branched off into different railheads, including in Dodge City and Wichita, Kansas. In 1877, the largest cattle delivery towns, Dodge City, Kansas, sent 500,000 head of cattle.
Another great cow trail, moving westward gradually, was established. In 1867, Goodnight-Loving Trail opened New Mexico and Colorado for Texas livestock. With tens of thousands of livestock immediately pushed into Arizona. In Texas, raising cattle is growing rapidly because American appetites shift from pork to beef. Caldwell, Dodge City, Ogallala, Cheyenne, and other cities became famous for driver patronage.
Chisholm Trail
The Chisholm line is the most important route to drive cattle that lead north from about Ft. Worth, Texas, across the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to the relhead in Abilene. It's about 520 miles long and generally follows the ninety-eight meridian line, but never has the right location, because different drives take somewhat different paths. With six countries enacting laws in the first half of 1867 against trailing cattle in the north, Texas breeders are aware of the need for a new trail that will circle the agricultural settlements and thus avoid tick fever problems. In 1867 a young Illinois cattle trader, Joseph G. McCoy, built a market facility in Abilene, Kansas, at the end of the Chisholm Trail. The new route to west Shawnee soon started carrying most of the Texas herd, leaving its previous trail to diminish for several years and ending.
The typical boost consists of 1,500-2,500 head of cattle. The typical outfit consists of superiors, (probably their owners), from ten to fifteen hands, each with ropes of five to ten horses; a horseman who handles horses; and a chef, riding a chuck cart. The cart carries the roll mattress; tents are considered excessive luxury. The men rode and grazed cattle most of the day, herding them with relays at night. Ten or twelve miles is considered a good day drive, because cattle should thrive on the route. They eat grass; men have bread, meat, beans with bacon, and coffee. Wages of about $ 40 per month, paid when the herd is sold.
The Chisholm trail declined after 1871 when, as a result of western settlement progress, Abilene lost its lead as a delivery point for Texas livestock. Dodge City, Kansas became the main delivery point for another route further west, crossing the Red River in Red River Station, Texas. The extension of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Caldwell, Kansas, in 1880, however, again made the Chisholm Channel the most important route for riding Texas livestock to the North, and maintained this position until the construction of an additional railway line south to Texas causing the delivery of trains to take over the place of driving a previous trail of northern Texas cattle to the market.
Cattle towns
Livestock cities developed between 1866 and 1890 when railroads reached cities suitable for collecting and transporting livestock. The first is Abilene, Kansas. Other cities in Kansas, including Wichita and Dodge City, replaced Abilene or shared patronage with riders just out of the long lane. In the 1880s Dodge City boasted to be "the cowboy capital of the world." Communities in other states, including Ogallala, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Miles City, Montana; and Medora, North Dakota, serving the trade as well. Amarillo, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls, all in Texas; Prescott, Arizona, Greeley, Colorado, and Las Vegas, New Mexico are regionally important.
The most famous cattle towns like Abilene are wooden fences, where the cattle are sent to storage in Chicago. Many small towns along the way support open land. Many cattle towns are enlivened by buffalo hunters, train construction gangs, and cargo clothing during their heyday. The livestock owners make this downtown office to buy and sell.
Cowboys, after months of monotonous work, dull food, and abstinence of all kinds, paid off and became loose. They howl, shaved and shaved, bought new clothes and equipment. They drank a white "donkey" straight. Dormitory and gambling operators thrive in open cities twenty-four hours a day. Violent and zealous spirit summoned some sort of "peace officer" made by cattle towns - marshal towns. James Butler Hickok, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson are one of the most famous marshals of cattle towns. The number of killings was, however, small by the standards of the eastern cities.
End of open range
The expansion of the livestock industry resulted in the need for additional open ranges. Therefore many breeders extend to the northwest, where there are still large unfinished grasslands. Texas cattle were herded northward, into the Rocky Mountains and Dakotas. In 1866, Nelson Story used the Bozeman Trail to successfully drive about 1000 Longhorn heads to the Gallatin Valley of Montana. Individual livestock barons like Conrad Kohrs built significant farms in the northern Rockies. In 1866, Kohrs bought a farm near Deer Lodge, Montana from former Canadian fur trader Johnny Grant. At its peak, Kohrs has 50,000 head of cattle, grazing in 10 million hectares (4 million hectares) spread across four states and two Canadian Provinces, and sending 10,000 tails annually to Union Stock Yards in Chicago.
Later, however, continuing overgrown grazing, combined with severe drought and winter in 1886-1887 wiped out many open livestock businesses in Montana and Great Plains above. After this event, breeders start using barbed wire to attach to their farms and protect their own grazing land from distractions by other animals.
In the 1890s, cattle were sometimes driven from the Panhandle of Texas to Montana. However, the railway line has been expanded to cover most countries, and meatpacking factories are built closer to the main breeding areas, making long hauling of cattle into railheads unnecessary.
Modern cattle drive
Smaller portions of livestock continued at least until the 1940s, as breeders, before the development of modern livestock trucks, were still needed to lead cattle to local fences for transport to storage and packing. Currently, cattle movers are mainly used to collect livestock within the boundaries of a farm and move it from one field to another, a process that generally lasts a maximum of several days. Due to the importance of cattle drives in American history, some working farms have turned their seasonal drives into tourist events, inviting guests in a manner similar to guest farms to participate in moving cattle from one place to the next. While horses are still used in many places, especially where there is rough terrain or mountains, all terrain vehicles are also used. When cattle are asked to move further, they are sent by truck.
Events intended to promote a western lifestyle can incorporate cattle drives. For example, the 1989 Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive celebrates Montana's centennial state and raises money for a college scholarship fund of 2,400 (including some working cowboys), 200 wagons and 2,800 cattle travel 50 miles in six days from Roundup to Billings along the main highway. Similar drives have been sponsored since then.
Cowboy Culture
A typical cowboy work gear, mostly from Mexican vaquero, captures the public image. High-crowned cowboy hats, high-heeled boots, leather chaps, pistols, rifles, flies, and spurs are very functional and necessary on the field, and mesmerize on movie screens. More and more the public identifies the cowboy with courage and devotion to the task, for he cares for the cattle wherever he must go, both in the swamps of pumice; swift, river flooding; or a seemingly inaccessible brush. He rides with lightning and snowstorms, eats summer sand, and is burned by the sun. Theodore Roosevelt conceptualizes herdsmen as distinct stages of civilization from settled farmers - a classic theme that is well expressed in Broadway hit 1944 "Oklahoma!" - Roosevelt argues that the maturity typed by cowboys - and outdoor activity and sports generally - is important if Americans avoid the softness and decay produced by easy life in the city. The cow towns along the path are famous for giving liquor to the cowboys; they are usually not allowed to drink on the path itself.
Images and memory
For three decades, he has transferred more than ten million cows and a million horses, trekked across the West with his character, gave economic and personality prestige to Texas, made historical history, glorified cowboys over the world, and gave America the most romantic tradition associated with any job.
Famous authors of the era include Theodore Roosevelt, who spent much of his heritage in Dakotas in the 1880s, Will Rogers, a leading 1920s humorist, and Indiana-born Andy Adams (1859-1935), who spent the 1880s and the 1890s in the livestock and mining industries in Great Plains and Southwest. When the depiction of the 1898 Texan made Adams angry, he began writing dramas, short stories, and novels drawn from his own experience. The Log of a Cowboy (1903) became a classic novel about the livestock business, especially livestock. It describes the fictional drive of the Dot Flock circle from Texas to Montana in 1882, and became a major source of cowboy life; historians trace its course in the 1960s, justifying its basic accuracy. His writings are acknowledged and criticized for his loyalty to the truth and the lack of literary quality.
Movement of cattle on television and movies
Cattle movers are a major plot element of many Hollywood movies and TV shows, especially in an era when westerns are popular. One of the most famous films is Red River (1948) directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Like many such films, the Red River tends to overestimate the dangers and disasters of cattle driving. Recently, the movie Slickers City (1990) is about cattle ranching based on guest farms. In the 1958 movie Cynoi, Glenn Ford's star as a track boss that's hard to live with Jack Lemmon as a glorified "horse's foot" that joins the drive.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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