How cattle drives changed the history of the American West

The history of the American West encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with American expansion across mainland North America, which began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 3 hr 9 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   the history of the american west · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   Cattle were shipped to Chicago, St. Louis, and points east for slaughter and consumption in the fast-growing cities, linking cattle drives to the changing West. A successful drive proved very profitable to everyone involved: one steer cost $4 in Texas and $40 in the East. The bison herds, usually called the "buffalo", once numbered over 25 million on the Great Plains and provided food, hides for clothing and shelter, and bones for implements to the Plains Indians. Loss of habitat, disease, and over-hunting steadily reduced the herds through the 19th century to the point of near extinction.

2. Read
   17. The West | The American Yawp · americanyawp.com · 40 min read

   The American bison, a large animal whose hides supplied leather for industrial belting and clothing, fell from over ten million at midcentury to only a few hundred by the early 1880s. Railroad expansion allowed ranching to replace bison with cattle on the American grasslands.

3. Watch
   

   Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24 · YouTube · 13 min watch

   Westward expansion in the 19th century involved settlers, railroads, and the forced removal of Native Americans and their resistance to it. John Green describes it.

4. Book
   

   Lonesome Dove · Bookshop.org

   Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is an adventure and an epic of the frontier, set in the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove among heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Its cast and setting offer a way to encounter the varied people McMurtry places in the last defiant wilderness of America.

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