Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Why was their conflict between
cattle ranchers and
homesteaders?
- The Cattle Ranchers wanted the same
land as the homesteaders. The success
of the cattle ranchers led to conflict
between the two groups.
- Early conflicts were caused when the
homesteaders tried to stop the cattle drives.
They were afraid of damage to their crops and
of Texas fever infecting their animals. This
conflict was one of the reasons for the end of
cattle drives.
- From the 1870's onwards, disputes about land and
access to water arose. The cattle ranchers wanted the
range to be "open range" with access to water for their
cattle. The homesteaders wanted to fence off their crops
to protect them from straying cattle, as well as wild
beasts. This could cut off access to water and bring the
two sides into direct conflict.
- Sheep Farmers
- By the 1880's flocks of sheep were a
serious threat to cattle, as they were
competing for grazing. Sheep rearing
was most common in south-western
states. Sheep outnumbered cattle ten
to one in Arizona, there were 5 million
sheep in New Mexico, and also large
numbers in California and Utah
- The advantage of sheep-rearing was that it
required a smaller initial investment and offered
quicker returns than cattle. There was some
violence by cattle ranchers which took the form of
killing shepherds, slaughtering sheep and burning
the hay of farmers who sold fodder to sheep
farmers. Racial and religious intolerance fed this
hostility. As many sheep farmers were often
immigrants e.g Mexicans, Indians, and sometimes
Mormons
- Barbed Wire
- In some places the invention of barbed wire led
to conflict between the cattle ranchers and
homesteaders. Homesteaders used it to fence
of their land. This initially aroused the hostility of
the cattle ranchers. Later, cattle ranches
realised the value of fencing, and on some larger
cattle ranches vast areas of range were fenched
off. Smaller ranches fought back to avoid being
cut off from water or squeezed out, they did this
by fence-cutting.