OPEN RANGE

Great Plains Area No boundaries to man

or cattle makes cattle drives easy

Low population Little trees

Cattle Kingdom

Greater urban pops = greater demand for food

Cattle drives—herd cattle via trails to cow towns situated along railroads

Refrigerator Car—makes shipping slaughtered meat possible

Mexican Influence– vaqueros or Mexican cowboys taught Americans how to be cowboys

Chislom Trail: major cattle route from Texas to Kansas (Abilene)

Abilene—major cow town, 35,000 head shipped out in 1st year

Life of a Cowboy(bottom of 1st box)

25% African American, 12% Mexican 10-14 hour days Expert rider and roper Long drive—herding the animals along cattle

trails for about 3 months to cow towns Sleeps on ground, bathed in rivers Death always a danger

Cowboy on the Open RangeThe other day I got my hands on of those dime novels the Yankees back east

been readin'. I wasn't gonna read it. After all, it was about a cowboy, and why would I wanna read a book about a guy like me? But I picked it up an' started lookin' at it.

Lemme tell ya. I don't think I've ever fought an evil, villainous cowboy or some Indian scoundrel. I don't go around savin' purty damsels in distress and I've never saved the day after a train robbery. I just don't know where these writers get these things.

A cowboy's life is simple. It's a good, honest way of livin'. It's no big ol' story but it's a nice way of life an' I like it. Cowboys, we ride the open land; chase the cattle around on horses. Oh an' we don't all carry guns. Can you imagine the cattle stampede a ruckus like a gunshot would cause? Unnecessary. We round the cattle on up to railroads. Chisholm Trail - that's the cattle trail I take.

Oh and another thing. I don't speak espanol or ride with my amigos on down to El Paso in the Mexican sunset. Me an' my Rosalinda don't eat tacos sittin' by the cactus and desert dirt. Just because cowboys work the cattle in the west, doesn't mean the southwest. The west is grassy as a matter of fact. Pretty, prairie grasslands. But I mean, you couldn't even have cattle in the desert. There'd be no grass for the cattle to eat. And I know my cattle. Just like any other ol' cowboy. So while my life is no inventive, imaginative escapade, it is down to earth country life that suits me just fine. ,

Decline of Cattle

Too many cattle— supply exceeds demand Overgrazing and extended bad weather Disease Barbed wire: blocks open range and turns

plains into a series of small ranches

Mining Towns

Gold/Silver Rushes: large strikes = mining towns being settled

California, 1849—led to CA statehood, 49ers Black Hills—richest ever found, led to more

problems with Sioux Indians Comstock Lode— Nevada, biggest silver

strike ever Alaska Ghost Towns— when the mines went belly-

up, mining towns were deserted

Mining Life

Large mix of people— everyone wants to strike it rich

Opportunity for all Saloons, gambling, wood sidewalks Most lived in tents or shacks Hard luck

“Wild West”

Legends of Adventure:

-Wild Bill Hickok

-Calamity Jane

-Wyatt Earp

-Jesse James

-Billy the Kid Dime Novels—cheap, told

stories of adventure in the West, Horatio Alger most well-known author

Wild West only last about 30 years

Review Questions!

1. Why did ghost towns develop?

a. the gold and silver in the mines ran out

b. the women refused to move to new places

c. the saloons in the next town over were better

d. the federal government forced the people to move

2. What brought about the decline of the cattle kingdom?

a. drought

b. barbed wire

c. overgrazing of the land

d. all of the above

3. The significance of the Chisholm Trail is that it

a. was the route the Native Americans took west

b. was the primary trail cowboys took cattle north to meet the railroads

c. it connected with Denver to ship cattle west

d. none of the above

4. Why was the “legendary” cowboy life over after just 30 years?

a. people in the east stopped eating beef

b. cowboys got tired of the rough lifestyle

c. farming and ranching techniques changed

d. Native Americans were able to leave the reservations

5. The Comstock Load

a. was the first major discovery of silver in the U.S.

b. was impacted by the developments of new mining technologies

c. allowed the people managing the mines to make huge fortunes

d. all of the above