Cattle drives in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cattle drive is the process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another, usually moved and herded by cowboys on horses.
Prior to the mid-19th century, most ranches primarily raised cattle for their own needs and to sell surplus meat and hides locally. There was also a limited market for hides, horns, hooves, and tallow in assorted manufacturing processses. Nationally, prior to 1865, there was little demand for beef.[1] At the end of the American Civil War, however, Philip Danforth Armour opened a meat packing plant in Chicago, which became known as Armour and Company, and with the expansion of the meat packing industry, the demand for beef increased significantly. By 1866, cattle could be sold to northern markets for as much as $40 per head, making it potentially profitable for cattle, particularly from Texas, to be herded long distances to market.[2]
Contents |
[edit] The cattle drive era
The first large-scale effort to drive cattle from Texas to the nearest railhead for shipment to Chicago occurred in 1866, when many Texas ranchers banded together to drive their cattle to the closest point that <a href="/wiki/Railroad" title=