Cowboys Between 1870-1900

Each long drive lasted about three months and was a transport of cattle held each year. There were four main cattle trails traveled by the cowboys. First, the Chisholm Trail ran from San Antonio, TX to Abilene, KS. The Sedalia Trail ran also from San Antonio on to Sedalia, MO. The Goodnight-Loving Trail ran from San Angelo, TX to Cheyenne, WY and the Western Trail from Bandera, TX to Dodge City, KS. The cowboys who made the long drive rode on horses from Mexico. Hernán Cortés brought small horses in 1519 known as piebald pintos.

The law in the West has been characterized as “5 cartridges in the cylinder and 1 in the chamber.” The Gold Rush of ’49 brough

These fears were realized in 1883 when a severe drought led to prairie fires and no water. The streams and water holes dried up again 3 years later in another drought, and then the heat was followed by the Great Blizzard of 1887. The temperature got down to about 68 below zero and snow fell at about an inch per hour. Cattle died by the thousands and ranchers lost 40 to 90 percent of their herds. After the blizzard, cowboys realized that it was no longer profitable to have huge herds of longhorns, that high grade cattle-which had more meat per animal-would be better to keep on ranches. The invention of barbed wire in 1874 by Joseph Glidden created a whole different world out west. Farmers who marked off their land with barbed wire made passage north nearly impossible for the cowboys making the long drive. Barbed wire was a blessing for farmers and ranchers, but a curse for cowboys. It turned open plains into fenced-off farms. Wire, laws restricting the passage of cattle, and the emergence of more and more people moving westward by the newly completed railroad, brought about the downfall of cowboys and the emergence of today’s cattle ranchers.

A lawman has no work, though, if there are no criminals. The James Gang, led by Jesse James, conducted many robberies, but rarely took much money. When they did have money, they blew it on alcohol and women. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were cattle rustlers in the 1890’s and were some of the

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