Ranching in TexasChapter 17

Spanish Origins• Before Europeans explored North America, cattle in Spain were raised for meat & hides.• When the Spanish came to Texas, they brought cattle with them.

Cattle During the Civil War• With most men fighting in the

Civil War, the ranching work was left undone.• Many herds roamed Texas &

increased greatly. • After the war, there were so

many cattle with few people that could afford to buy them.

Railroad Expansion• After the Civil War, railroads expanded westward. This allowed ranchers to ship their cattle to markets across Texas, and to the North & East.

A Market For Beef• After the Civil War, the demand for

beef increased with stockyards & packinghouses being established near Chicago & St. Louis.

• Stockyard: A pen where livestock is kept before being butchered or shipped to market

• Packinghouse: A warehouse where beef is prepared for shipment

Cow Towns Developed• A longhorn that was worth $4 in

Texas brought $40 in the packinghouses.

• As a result, Joseph G. McCoy built the first cow town in Abilene, Kansas along the Union Pacific Railroad.

• Cow Town: A town that serves as a market for cattle

Cattle Trails• The Chisholm Trail was the 1st

cattle trail that connected Texas to the Abilene cow town.

• 35,000 cattle reached Abilene on this trail in 1867 & 6 million longhorns by 1887.

• As more railroads were built, more trails developed.

Cowboy Culture• Since most ranches were

established in West Texas, this region developed a cowboy culture.• The cowboy, or cowhand,

has become a popular folk hero & a symbol of the West.

Barbed Wire• The success of the ranching industry

caused ranges to become crowded with too many ranchers competing for pasture space.

• In 1873, Joseph F. Glidden invented Barbed Wire, which was inexpensive and kept cattle from destroying crops on other farms.

• As a result, open ranges became a thing of the past.

Ranching Becomes Commercial• Since ranching was so

successful, many foreign investors bought ranches in West Texas.

• The invention of barbed wire allowed these investors to build fences, which caused ranching to become commercial instead of a way of life.

Windmills• Since West Texas was dry with

few rivers, cattle owners had allowed their cattle to roam the open range in search of water.

• However, windmills were invented to pump underground water from wells. Ranchers used these to provide water for their cattle & to keep them in a certain area.