“Wyoming was a frontier, an area sparse of people, heavy with cattle and abundant in rope.” --Mike Shonsey
I. Origins
a. William Sublette, five cattle to the 1830 rendezvous; Seth Ward wintered cattle on Chugwater, 1852
b. Thomas Alsop, freighting for Creightons, left 300 oxen on Sheriman Hill, 1863; wintered well.
c. first use of open range--supplying beef to the army, pioneers Nelson Story (1866), John Iliff (1868)
d. southeastern Wyoming ranches--1870s. 8,143 cattle in 1870 in territory; by 1875, 19 outfits had 1,000 +
e. opening of the Powder River country to cattle, late 1870s; Big Horn Basin, 1879, Carter/McCulloch, Oregon cattle; Belknap; Otto Franc (Pitchfork Ranch), 1880.
f. James Brisbin's book, Beef Bonanza, as incentive
g. forming the first "association,” 1871. Gov. Campbell, association president.
h. Laramie County Stockgrowers Assoc. (1873), evolved into WSGA (1879). First brand law, 1873.
i. Union Pacific v. cattlemen, 1875 legislation making railroad liable for locomotives hitting cattle.
II. Individuals involved in the industry, 1870s-1880s
a. James Brisbin and the "Beef Bonanza"
b. Moreton Frewen (nicknamed "Mortal Ruin" by some friends), Winston Churchill's uncle
c. Alexander Swan--European investors in Swan Company. First Herefords, 1878. By 1885, 125,000 cattle.
d. Joseph M. Carey, WSGA president in 1885 when membership reached 416.
e. Francis E. Warren, as territorial governor, a member of the WSGA and prominent stockman
f. Dr. Amos Barber (see Readings in Wyoming History article on Fetterman Hospital Association)
g. social life of the ranchmen--the Cheyenne Club and Cheyenne’s "millionaire's row" (now Carey Avenue)
III. The open range and its problems
a. overgrazing and overcrowding: 1885—895,000 head on tax rolls, another 600,000 grazing; 1886, 1.5 million
b. increasing numbers of homesteaders
c. prices of cattle dictated by world markets: 1882--$60 per head in Chicago. 1885—average price in Wyo. $30
d. innovations in transportation shipment, processing, feeding, sales of cattle
e. ranch sales based on book count--sale of cattle because ranches used free open range and did not own much land--used federally-owned land for free
f. book count--multiplying the number of calves branded the previous spring by 3, 4, or 5 to determine total herd numbers, brought with it huge possibility of fraud or overestimates
IV. The problem of weather for open range ranchers
a. cattle ranching depended on good grass and water; one-eyed steer and a branding iron, later 300 cattle
b. world prices fell after 1884: $5.40 per cwt. to $3 in 1887 (Chicago delivery).
c. dry summer/harsh winter meant disaster--no allowances for feeding hay
d. the winter of 1886-87: "ill luck, mismanagement and greed" (quoting John Clay). Losses about 15%.
e. problems of labor: cowboys forced to "ride the grub line"; cowboy origins mostly Midwest; few from Texas
a. the Maverick law (1884): WSGA regulated roundups, mavericks sold with proceeds for stock detectives.
b. blacklisting cowboys who own their own livestock; many were former employees of the big companies
c. stock detectives: N. K. Boswell; Frank Canton; convictions of Anna Peterson and others; Moonlight’s view.
d. vigilante enforcement: the Ella Watson-James Averell incident
VI. The Johnson County Invasion: An Inevitability?
Further Reading:
Andy Adams. The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days. (Lincoln: Univ. of Neb. Press, 1964).
Atherton, Lewis. The Cattle Kings. (Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1972).
James Brisbin. The Beef Bonanza, or, How to Get Rich on the Plains. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1881).
Gene M. Gressley. Bankers and Cattlemen. (New York: Knopf, 1966).
Terry G. Jordan. North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers: Origins, Diffusion, and Differentiation. (Albuquerque: UNM Press, 1993).
Helena Huntington Smith. The War on Powder River: The History of an Insurrection. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966).
Lawrence M. Woods. John Clay, Jr.: Commission Man, Banker and Rancher. (Spokane: Arthur Clark, 2001).