Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Texas longhorn cattle trail

In 2011, because of the severe drought in Texas and the Southwest, there has been a huge influx of Texas cattle into the (relatively) greener pastures of Nebraska, a movement not seen, perhaps, since the great cattle drives in the last quarter of the 19th Century. In 1836, the Texicans declared their independence from Mexico and Texas became, for a short time, an independent country. At independence time, the vast area, spreading from the Rio Grande to the Nueces River, south and west of the present city of San Antonio, was the domain of Mexican ranchers, who oversaw large herds of cattle on their rancheros. The Texas Revolution saw the Mexican ranchers driven from their homes, back to Mexico, south of the Rio Grande, leaving most of their cattle behind. The new Texas government declared that all unbranded cattle were to become public property, leading to the branding of large herds of cattle by the Texans. Even so, because of the small value of cattle at the time, many, if not most of the abandoned Mexican Longhorn cattle (which breed originated in Spain) reverted to a wild state. Between 1836 and the Civil War these cattle multiplied -- did they ever. It is estimated that there were some 100,000 head of Longhorns in this area in 1830. By 1865 that number had grown to over 5 million! And by that time the cattle spread over a good portion of the central plains region of the Lone Star State. These wild cattle gave rise to a new industry in Texas. Because of the large number of cattle, prices were very cheap in Texas -- as little as $3 per head, while in Chicago, for instance, they were worth 10 times as much...more

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