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The American West, c1835–c1895

Ranching and the cattle industry

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 booklet P

Overview

The value of Texas longhorns, Goodnight and Loving, McCoy's Abilene, John Iliff on the northern Plains, railroads and the shifting cow towns, the cowboy on the long drive and on the ranch, round-ups, quarrels with homesteaders, Texas fever and barbed wire.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How did barbed wire sharpen the conflict between ranchers and settlers?

Key term

Why was a Texas longhorn worth so much more in the north than at home after the Civil War?

Key term

What did Joseph McCoy build at Abilene in 1867?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was a Texas longhorn worth so much more in the north than at home after the Civil War?

    Model answer

    Millions ran wild in Texas and fetched only a few dollars, while the growing cities of the north and east paid ten times as much for beef.

  2. 2

    What did Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving prove in 1866?

    Model answer

    By driving a herd west into New Mexico they showed that cattle could be sold profitably to army posts and reservation agents rather than only to eastern cities.

  3. 3

    What did Joseph McCoy build at Abilene in 1867?

    Model answer

    Stockyards, pens and a hotel beside the railroad, and he sent agents south to tell Texas ranchers to drive their herds there.

  4. 4

    Why did Abilene matter so much to the cattle trade?

    Model answer

    It gave the long drive a safe destination on a rail line, so herds could be loaded straight onto trains for the Chicago slaughterhouses.

  5. 5

    What was John Iliff's contribution to ranching?

    Model answer

    He built up huge herds on the open range of Colorado and sold beef to railroad crews and reservations, showing cattle could be raised on the northern Plains rather than only driven across them.

  6. 6

    In what two ways did the spreading railroad network drive the cattle boom?

    Model answer

    It carried live cattle east in days instead of months, and later refrigerated wagons let dressed beef travel instead of the animal.

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