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The earliest ranchers in the American West were Spaniards who imported cattle
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Texans interbred English cattle with Spanish cattle to produce a new breed called Texas Longhorns. Thier meat was tough and stringy and they were able to travel long distances on little water. They could also live year round on grass. Longhorns were immune to Texas fever, a disese that was carried by other cattle.
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A steer could bring about $4 in Texas and coul dbe sold for about $40 or more in Eastern markets
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Joseph Glidden patented barbed wire to fence in cattle so he would keep them together and to let his compeition know that it was his. It also kept the stealing rate down more
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Most mexicans and mexican american cowboys worked on ranchses in Texas. Once they had sons they would go to work on other peoples farms sometimes, or help out their own dad.
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Cattle ranchers/farmers had filled miles of open range land with barbed wire fencing to control access to land and water. Some farmers had responded to this by cutting the fences in their way and stealing cattle. All this created ranged wars where peeople kept trying to get revenge on eachother for causing harm to one anothers cattle
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The cattle had brought about $35 a head in Chicago
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Now the cattle only sold for $8, continually going down in time.
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In 1885 and 1886 a severe winter hit the southern heards and diminished many of them. RIght after the winter there was a long drought that killed even more off
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A terrible blizzard hammered the Northern Plains. at 46 degrees below zero, many frozen and starved cattle were found. Some ranchers lost of to 90% of their herds. The sheep that remainded after this soon ended up dying and that was known as the end of the Cowboy Era.
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10,000 basques were living in the west even with the conflicts between them and the cowboys. they were also called shepherds. The cowboys drove their herds of sheep off cliffs to make more room for their own.