Origins and Growth of the cattle industry

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  • Created by: Jxss.lx
  • Created on: 24-06-18 13:14
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  • Origins and Growth of the Cattle Industry
    • Origins
      • Cattle first brought to America by European invaders
      • 1836: Texas becomes part of US
        • Texans carry on Mexican cattle industry
          • Cowboys
            • Herded cattle on long drives across South
      • After the Civil War, Texans returned to cattle herds which had grown dramatically
        • Demand was high in North but economy left little profits available in South
      • Texas fever
        • Nearly always fatal
        • Highly contagious between cattle
        • 1855: Vigilance groups in Missouri blocked cattle drives from Texas
          • Quarantine law passed
            • Texans looking for alternative route to drive cattle to big profits in East
        • 1859: Quarantine law passed in Kansas
          • Texans looking for alternative route to drive cattle to big profits in East
    • Growth
      • Joseph McCoy & Abilene
        • Joseph McCoy: Livestock trader
          • Bought 450 acres of land and built a holding pen for cattle
          • Advertised safe journey from Texas to Abilene with riches available for cattle herders
            • Over 3,000,000 cattle driven through Abilene in following years
              • McCoy became very rich
              • Abilene became first cow town
          • Constructed a hotel
          • Organised for Kansas Pacific Railroad to build depot
            • 100 cars could be loaded
        • Abilene
          • Kansas relaxed quarantine rule in 1867
            • Cattle could pass through West of state (Abilene)
          • Grassland all the way from Texas
            • Through Indian Territory
          • 1867: Railroad reached Abilene
          • Cattle could be loaded onto boxcars to Chicago
      • Goodnight-Loving Trail 1866
        • Established by Charles Goodnight ad Oliver Loving
          • Realised opportunity of selling cattle directly to population centres in the West
        • 1866: Navajo Indians starving on reservation
          • Goodnight, Loving and 18 cowboys drove 2,000 cattle here
            • Sold 800 cattle for $12,000, 4x as much as possible in Texas
              • Goodnight returned to Texas
                • Continued to sell cattle to booming towns
                  • Ranch in Texas over 1,000,000 acres
              • Loving drove and sold remaining 1,200 cattle to John Illif
                • Injured in Comanche attack, died
        • 1866-1880s: Used by other cattle drivers
          • Wyoming grew it's own cattle industry
          • Mining towns
          • Reservations
      • John Illif
        • 1861: Bought an exhausted herd for $500
          • 1866: Bought land for ranch in Denver
            • Demand for meat was high, gold prospectors
            • Built a herd of 26,000 cattle
              • Sold beef
                • Mining towns
                • Government for Indian reservations
                  • 1872: Won contract to sell beef to reservation of 7,000 Sioux Indians
                • Teams building Union Pacific Railroad

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