“Wyoming was a frontier, an area sparse of people, heavy with cattle and abundant in rope.” --Mike Shonsey
I. Origins
a. earliest cattle: William Sublette trailed five cattle to the 1830 Wind River rendezvous
b. beginning in 1843, cattle accompanied Oregon Trail travelers—often traded at the forts either for “rested” livestock or for supplies
c. post sutlers often owned cattle herds—supplied the army with beef. An early example: Judge William A. Carter, post sutler at Fort Bridger, who later pioneered cattle ranching in the Big Horn Basin
d. first use of open range--supplying beef to the army, pioneers John Iliff and Nelson Story
e. southeastern Wyoming ranches--1870s
f. opening of the Powder River country to cattle, late 1870s
g. James Brisbin's book, Beef Bonanza, was an incentive for speculators as well as those interested in ranching in the West
h. cattlemen in Laramie County formed an "association" to further the goals of the industry
i. the association membership grew and in 1879, it was renamed the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association (WSGA)
II. Individuals involved in the industry, 1870s-1880s
a. Moreton Frewen (nicknamed "Mortal Ruin" by some friends), Churchill's uncle
b. Alexander Swan--European investors in Swan Company
c. Joseph M. Carey
d. Francis E. Warren
e. Dr. Amos Barber
f. social life of the ranchmen--the Cheyenne Club and "millionaire's row"
III. The open range and its problems
a. as each year passed, there was greater overgrazing and overcrowding
b. increasing numbers of homesteaders (small ranchers)
c. barbed wire made it feasible and relatively inexpensive to fence off homesteaded land from the public lands
d. prices of cattle dictated by world markets
e. innovations in transportation shipment, processing, feeding, sales of cattle
f. ranch sales based on book count--the possibility of fraud or overestimates
IV. The problem of illegal fencing of government-owned land
a. William A. J. Sparks served as commissioner of public lands
b. the land commission asked public land ranchers how much they'd pay for the public land--"Would you pay 5-cent per acre of land?"
c. government brought lawsuits based on illegal fencing against prominent ranchers
d. courts gave federal government the authority to tear down the fences built on public land
e. U. S. Army sent "buffalo soldiers" (African-American soldiers) to tear down the fences
V. The problem of weather for open range ranchers
a. cattle ranching depended on good grass and water--both free on the open range (public lands)
b. dry summer/harsh winter meant disaster--no allowances for feeding hay
c. the winter of 1886-87: "ill luck, mismanagement and greed" (quoting John Clay)
d. combinations of poor prices, overgrazing, harsh weather, and ‘book count’ brought bust to cattle industry, 1887
VI. The “fall-out” from the cattle bust
a. problems of labor: cowboys forced to "ride the grub line”
b. the Maverick law made it illegal to brand mavericks except for the WSGA
c. vigilante enforcement: the Ella Watson-James Averell incident
d. blackballing cowboys who own their own livestock, originated during years of prosperity but intensified during the hard economic times
VII. The Johnson County Invasion: An Inevitability?