ipl-logo

How Did The Cowboys Grow After The Civil War

482 Words2 Pages

The nation saw tremendous growth in the west after the civil war. Such growth includes the business of mining, ranching, and farming. Three factors that allowed for expansions in these business included dry farming, placer mining, or simple mining, and long drive, for ranching. Dry farming involved techniques like planting crops that do not need a lot of water. Placer mining was used by either single miners or miners in small group who searched for minerals closer to the surface. They shoveled loose dirt into boxes then ran it under water causing heavy minerals, like gold or silver, to sink to the bottom; this worked well in finding loose gold that washed out of the rocks. Long drives was the transportation of cattle; the job of cowboys, from ranges into cow towns. …show more content…

Some succeed while many failed. The work was far from easy or enjoyable. The pay was all dependent on experience. Cowboys had to face bad weather conditions (like thunderstorms), rough unleveled and muddy roads, often cattle thieves, and stampedes. The day was often 18 hours long, as the cowboys had to guide the cattle and be on constant look out for anything alerting. One other challenge was that farmers began to close off their fields with barbed wire, to keep the cattle out so they couldn’t graze the field. When in the business of ranching, cattlemen were often the fault of their downfall. Cattle weren’t allowed to graze farmer’s fields, they over grazed the remainder range which damaged the prairie grass. They also overstocked the market which lowered the price of beef. By 1885-86 when 85% of cattle were lost due to starvation and freezing temperatures, thousands of individual ranchers and many large corporations were ruined. Cattle ranching, and some cattle ranchers survived, but were not as big as before, with new breeds of cattle that replaced the Texas

Show More
Related
604 Words | 3 Pages

The railroad introduced the herds to American industrial production, for which they became one more resource to be mined en masse. Millions of buffalo fell to indiscriminate slaughter, their hides shipped back along the rails to the markets of the

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

Farmers saw increased production as the land was recovered and was put back to use, despite the Dust Bowl forcing many farmers to change professions all together

Read More
1249 Words | 5 Pages

While laissez-faire enabled corporate powers to burgeon, farmers and social workers did not benefit from the bureaucratic government. American agriculture endured many hardships during the Gilded Age and was profoundly affected by the technological advancements, government policies, and economic conditions between 1865 and 1900. The declining position of American Farmers was the corollary of novel technology and mechanized agriculture. Because subsistence farming was no longer a viable option, farmers transformed their estates into commercial businesses and became heavily dependent on machinery and producing at commercial scales. Much of the new technology farmers invested in for example, steel plows, harrows, grain binders, threshers, windmills,

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

Alea Avila APUSH Period 07 December 20, 2016 DBQ The North and the South had recurring conflicts centered around states’ rights and the power of the federal government. Prior to the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s exploration of a slave life became a nationwide sensation that brought the issue of slavery life to those who have been unaware for decades, this led to the widening division between the North and the South. As the disagreement advanced and violence spurred, the nation became troubled.

Read More
742 Words | 3 Pages

In fear of silt accumulation interfering with the Hoover Dam’s functioning, a livestock reduction program was implemented to minimize the effects of overgrazing. But Collier failed to predict its consequences among the Navajo sheepherders. As a matter of fact, sheeps, goats and horses were all essential parts of Navajo life, both economically and spiritually; being forced to slaughter the livestocks proved to be devastating for the families who relied on them. Eventually the herd size was cut by half in return for some minor reservation expansions.

Read More
1455 Words | 6 Pages

With such a dramatic increase in population, the economy flourished. The three products that dominated the Texas economy were flour, lumber, and coal (308). All

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

The United States were growing very fast; technology made job conditions easier to work with. With the new technological advancements, the country was getting easier to access. The railroads were replacing old methods of transportation. From 1870 to 1890, the number of railroads grew immensely with the major land grants (Document B). With technological innovations such as steel plows and mechanical reapers, it made agriculture easier.

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

Following the Civil War, westward migration increased rapidly; this was mainly due to acts such as the Homestead Act, which provided 160 acres of land for anyone who settled on it for a period of five years, the Morrill Act, and the Transcontinental Railroad, which ignited the transportation revolution. Nevertheless, life was difficult for farmers in the west, as they faced droughts, severe weather, and loneliness, leading many to leave their Western homesteads. However, often the greatest difficulty for farmers was competing with industrial farming, large corporations, and the global economy. As production increased and global prices decreased, many farmers fell into poverty, burned with debt they could not pay off due to deflation. As farmers

Read More
103 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the 1840’s and 1890’s the natural environment shaped the development of the West beyond the Mississippi like, where the best and worst settlement would be in the West, how there was a struggle for the expansion that the settlers of the West were pushing for and, how aspects like cattle and mining would influence the settlers. There were many environmental changes, as well as expansion in the West, and the increase in knowledge and development in industry, that were occurring, and causing the development of the West beyond the Mississippi to be impacted along with the lives of those who lived their.

Read More
1174 Words | 5 Pages

Currently, the U.S. is the leader in the fed-cattle industry and was the prime producer of quality, grain-fed beef cattle in the World in 2012. The U.S. was a pioneer in the ranching industry and has been instrumental in shaping the cattle industry into what it is today. Many of the early advancements made within the industry can be credited to the King Ranch, established in 1853. The King Ranch opened the door to large scale ranching and developing new breeds and methods to increase efficiency and decrease labor required to run a beef cattle herd. Richard King’s ranch continues to be the icon of modern day American ranching.

Read More
494 Words | 2 Pages

In the late nineteenth century, they invented new machines that help the farmers with the speed of planting and harvesting crops. For instance, “New agricultural machinery allowed farmers to increase crop yields with less labor.” (Khan Academy) Gaining the west land helped United State experience an economic

Read More
1456 Words | 6 Pages

In a time when America was coming out of the bloodiest war that was ever fought, against themselves, The Civil War, and when America looked overseas for a new frontier with Imperialism. It is in this context that America started to grow westward with farm land and in industry with the million of workers, but America still felt growing pains. Two significant ways in which farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) were the formation of organizations to protect farmers, and the creation of labor unions and the use of strikes to protect the workers. One significant way in which farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865 - 1900) was the formation of organizations to protect farmers. During Westward Expansion farmers fell victims to the low pricing of the crops.

Read More
230 Words | 1 Pages

Have you ever seen a movie with the cowboy as the main character? Many movies and TV shows have made the cowboy seem like a fearless hero that wear certain boots and hats and sing songs. But, as described in “The Real Story of Cowboy’s Life,” a historical essay written by Geoffrey C. Ward, the life of a cowboy is full of struggles, lonlieness, and dangers. One of the many struggles of a cowboy was stampedes.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

In response to Manifest Destiny, and westward expansion, agriculture became a major industry in the Midwest, South, and West. For the farmers, industrialization had

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

The American West was a place that defined us as a country, and for it to be able to do that, it required change. When people first started to move and settle in the West, everything was as free and open as it could be. There was endless space full of tall grasses in which cattle could openly graze as they pleased. Something that helped to change this landscape into what it has become today is barbed wire. Barbed wire is a type of fencing, and it greatly affected the plains.

Read More

More about How Did The Cowboys Grow After The Civil War

Related Topics

Open Document