Objective: To examine the Cattle Kingdom of the West. The Cattle Trail, 1905 courtesy, Library of Congress.Cattle Trail.

Objective: To examine the Cattle Kingdom of the West.

The Cattle Trail, 1905 courtesy, Library of Congress.

Example) Chisholm Trail – audio introduction

Driving Cattle to Market

· After the Civil War, growing cities in the East increased their demand for beef.· Texas ranchers began to drive herds of longhorns hundreds of miles north to the railroads, where they were shipped east.

The Old Chisholm Trail

Come along boys and listen to my tale,I'll tell you of my troubles on the old Chisholm trail. (Chorus)Oh, a ten-dollar hoss and a forty-dollar saddle,And I'm goin' to punchin' Texas cattle. (Chorus)I wake in the mornin' afore daylight,And afore I sleep the moon shines bright. (Chorus)It's cloudy in the west, a-lookin' like rain,And my durned old slicker's in the wagon again. (Chorus)No chaps, no slicker, and it's pourin' down rain,And I swear, by gosh, I'll never night-herd again. (Chorus)Feet in the stirrups and seat in the saddle,I hung and rattled with them long-horn cattle. (Chorus)

Chorus: Come a ti yi yippee, come a ti yi yea,Come a ti yi yippee, come a ti yi yea.

The wind commenced to blow, and the rain began to fall,Hit looked, by grab, like we was goin' to lose 'em all. (Chorus)I don't give a darn if they never do stop;I'll ride as long as an eight-day clock. (Chorus)We rounded 'em up and put 'em on the cars,And that was the last of the old Two Bars. (Chorus)Oh, it's bacon and beans most every day,I'd as soon be a-eatin' prairie hay. (Chorus)I went to the boss to draw my roll,He had it figgered out I was nine dollars in the hole. (Chorus)Goin' back to town to draw my money,Goin' back home to see my honey. (Chorus)With my knees in the saddle and my seat in the sky,I'll quit punchin' cows in the sweet by and by. (Chorus)

Chorus: Come a ti yi yippee, come a ti yi yea,Come a ti yi yippee, come a ti yi yea.

Chisholm Trail Heritage Center

The Cowhand’s Life

Cowhand – responsible for driving the cattle north to the railroads

• Cowhands learned their trade from Spanish vaqueros.

Cowhand’s Gear

chaps kept rider’slegs safe

lariat(leather rope)

used to lassorunaway cattle

Wide-brimmedhat

provided protectionfrom the sun

· Cowhands had to worry about stampedes, cattle thieves, and the dry, hot weather.

· Cow towns developed near the railroads, offering cowhands hotels, saloons, and restaurants.

Abilene, Kansas (late 1800’s)

Caldwell, Kansas (1880’s)

Wichita, Kansas (1874)

Dodge City, Kansas, 1874

"Kansas has but one Dodge City, with a broad expanse of territory sufficiently vast for an empire; we have only room for one Dodge City; Dodge, a synonym for all that is wild, reckless, and violent; Hell on the Plains."

-- A Kansas Newspaper in the 1870's

Cattle Boom

· Cattle roamed free on the plains.

Cowboys at the end of an 1897 roundup in Ward County, Texas, pose with their herd of almost 2,000 cattle.

· Ranchers rounded them up twice a year and branded newborn calves.

Cowboys branding a calf in fenced area. South Dakota, 1888.

* The spread of farming, as well as harsh weather, destroyed the cattle boom by 1887.

Hundreds of miles of barbed wire were strung across the state in the 1880s, forever changing the character of the frontier and bringing a measure of management to the cattle industry.