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Cattle Kate: The Controversial Life and Legend of the Wyoming Territory’s Most Famous Woman Outlaw
*Includes pictures
*Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
In the span of scarcely more than a half century, the West developed from a handful of scattered fur trapping enterprises predominantly inhabited by males to a region full of burgeoning rustic communities, and before the government’s official “closure” of the frontier as a lawless expanse, Western societies were essentially living apart from traditional American rule of law. What judicial structures were at work across the West were erratic, often willing to exercise extremes without evidential justification, and manipulated by major corporate interests of the day, most notably cattle.
As this suggests, despite the fact westward expansion is more often than not characterized as a conflict with nature and indigenous cultures, inherent danger existed as frontiersmen, family homesteaders, entrepreneurs, and cattle giants fought for a share in the new frontier life. At times, those in search of wealth, whether from a gold rush, an iconic technology, or from the acquisition of land and livestock, went beyond the decimation of the indigenous peoples. That portion of the frontier offered to the more modestly endowed settlers by federal legislation emerged as an economic irritant to bigger companies and the elite. In some economic quarters, they exerted an extreme effort to sabotage the prevailing structure and remove lower classes from the government’s promise.
Where older America depended on the slave culture to sustain its rural existence, cattlemen serving Atlantic appetites for meat forged empires of unthinkable dimensions in the West. With a weak system of law enforcement and unlimited availability of federal acreage open for public use, cattle barons granted themselves land rights and legal authority without limit. Once in control, they dared anyone to correct them, individual or institutional, and in light of their commercial contribution to the markets back east, there was little chance of government reprisals against their usurpation.
Ultimately, major cattle interests inevitably collided with a parallel migration of settlers seeking small plots of land and modest holdings in cattle, sheep, and seasonal farming. This was not a problem the wealthy observed at a distance, but the claim of a lesser segment of society made against them for rule over America’s new ground. The age of the cattle boom was, lamentably for industrialists coveting the vast tracts of the West, also the founding of a new Pacific-oriented population. Once the Whitman family reached the Walla Walla Valley in search of a Protestant mission, securing a foothold in the most distant and alien territory, the Oregon Trail swelled with travelers intent on doing the same.
The demand for choice land involved not only quantity of acreage, but controlled access to lakes, rivers, springs, creeks, wells, and unimpeded routes for cattle drives. In holding property rights to the smallest stretch of flowing water, the simple homesteader could create considerable peril for a vast, lucrative cattle enterprise. In the reverse, a settler could be driven off his land by the withholding of streams through specific property management, and by the destruction wrought by ravenous and unchecked herds.
Many such conflicts ended in violence between business and personal interests. On July 20, 1889 in the Wyoming Territory, in an unbridled display of vigilantism, a group of powerful cattle magnates and their hired hands executed a pair of homesteaders perceived as intruders seeking land they did not deserve. In turn, they dared the region’s pallid legal system to confront them over the matter. The shock of this specific event, still a subject of interest in the range country, marked the first and last illegal hanging of a female in the Wyoming country.
*Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
In the span of scarcely more than a half century, the West developed from a handful of scattered fur trapping enterprises predominantly inhabited by males to a region full of burgeoning rustic communities, and before the government’s official “closure” of the frontier as a lawless expanse, Western societies were essentially living apart from traditional American rule of law. What judicial structures were at work across the West were erratic, often willing to exercise extremes without evidential justification, and manipulated by major corporate interests of the day, most notably cattle.
As this suggests, despite the fact westward expansion is more often than not characterized as a conflict with nature and indigenous cultures, inherent danger existed as frontiersmen, family homesteaders, entrepreneurs, and cattle giants fought for a share in the new frontier life. At times, those in search of wealth, whether from a gold rush, an iconic technology, or from the acquisition of land and livestock, went beyond the decimation of the indigenous peoples. That portion of the frontier offered to the more modestly endowed settlers by federal legislation emerged as an economic irritant to bigger companies and the elite. In some economic quarters, they exerted an extreme effort to sabotage the prevailing structure and remove lower classes from the government’s promise.
Where older America depended on the slave culture to sustain its rural existence, cattlemen serving Atlantic appetites for meat forged empires of unthinkable dimensions in the West. With a weak system of law enforcement and unlimited availability of federal acreage open for public use, cattle barons granted themselves land rights and legal authority without limit. Once in control, they dared anyone to correct them, individual or institutional, and in light of their commercial contribution to the markets back east, there was little chance of government reprisals against their usurpation.
Ultimately, major cattle interests inevitably collided with a parallel migration of settlers seeking small plots of land and modest holdings in cattle, sheep, and seasonal farming. This was not a problem the wealthy observed at a distance, but the claim of a lesser segment of society made against them for rule over America’s new ground. The age of the cattle boom was, lamentably for industrialists coveting the vast tracts of the West, also the founding of a new Pacific-oriented population. Once the Whitman family reached the Walla Walla Valley in search of a Protestant mission, securing a foothold in the most distant and alien territory, the Oregon Trail swelled with travelers intent on doing the same.
The demand for choice land involved not only quantity of acreage, but controlled access to lakes, rivers, springs, creeks, wells, and unimpeded routes for cattle drives. In holding property rights to the smallest stretch of flowing water, the simple homesteader could create considerable peril for a vast, lucrative cattle enterprise. In the reverse, a settler could be driven off his land by the withholding of streams through specific property management, and by the destruction wrought by ravenous and unchecked herds.
Many such conflicts ended in violence between business and personal interests. On July 20, 1889 in the Wyoming Territory, in an unbridled display of vigilantism, a group of powerful cattle magnates and their hired hands executed a pair of homesteaders perceived as intruders seeking land they did not deserve. In turn, they dared the region’s pallid legal system to confront them over the matter. The shock of this specific event, still a subject of interest in the range country, marked the first and last illegal hanging of a female in the Wyoming country.
66 pages, Paperback
Published March 25, 2020
20 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 14, 2020
This made me angry!
Cattle Kate by Charles River Editors describes the rough life of a gal named Kate.
***Spoiler alert***
Married to a very abusive husband but able to finally escape. Moves far away and finds love. Has a wonderful life, they are making a good life, they are well liked in the surrounding area, take in a couple of teens from families that can't care for them then trouble happens. Greedy cattle ranchers want the land they are on. They threaten, and even make a bill to make it hard for the poor but Kate prevails. It makes the cattle ranchers even madder. They lynch the couple and get rid of witnesses. The they buy the land for practically nothing!
What made the cattle rancher so mad was that he was stalled by a female!
Then the journalist then wrote a tall tale backing the cattle rancher. Does this sound like anything that would happen today? You bet! I think that's why I am so mad! Rich still can lie and kill and write their own stories and be believed!
Cattle Kate by Charles River Editors describes the rough life of a gal named Kate.
***Spoiler alert***
Married to a very abusive husband but able to finally escape. Moves far away and finds love. Has a wonderful life, they are making a good life, they are well liked in the surrounding area, take in a couple of teens from families that can't care for them then trouble happens. Greedy cattle ranchers want the land they are on. They threaten, and even make a bill to make it hard for the poor but Kate prevails. It makes the cattle ranchers even madder. They lynch the couple and get rid of witnesses. The they buy the land for practically nothing!
What made the cattle rancher so mad was that he was stalled by a female!
Then the journalist then wrote a tall tale backing the cattle rancher. Does this sound like anything that would happen today? You bet! I think that's why I am so mad! Rich still can lie and kill and write their own stories and be believed!
September 12, 2024
A short, but very interesting, account of the life of Ellen (Ella) Watson, aka Cattle Kate. After leaving her first husband due to his abusive behavior, she later meets Jim Averell. They got a marriage license, but Ella kept her own name. Since she seemed to be single, both she and Averell were able to get land under the Homestead Act. Ella saw the benefit of holding water rights, and she and Averell had adjoining land with control of about 1 mile of water access. This caused the Wyoming Stock Growers Association to target the couple. They accused her of being a prostitute and a cattle rustler. They decided to lynch the couple. This is the ONLY woman ever hung in Wyoming.
The myth of her as an outlaw is perpetuated to this day in films and other works. However, it is not true. She was a victim of a greedy bunch of landowners in the Wild West Wyoming territory.
The myth of her as an outlaw is perpetuated to this day in films and other works. However, it is not true. She was a victim of a greedy bunch of landowners in the Wild West Wyoming territory.
September 12, 2022
A far cry from Hollywood's version!
Quite a bit of new information. It certainly appears that the greed and corruption in politics and big business hasn't changed over the last several hundred years.
Quite a bit of new information. It certainly appears that the greed and corruption in politics and big business hasn't changed over the last several hundred years.
April 21, 2022
What a story! It took more than 100 years for the truth to come out about the illegal killing of two hard-working owners of cattle ranches in the Sweetwater River area of Wyoming. Ellen Watson (renamed Cattle Kate by adversaries of the couple) was a large (5'9") tall woman who escaped from an abusive husband. She moved around to avoid that husband while she got a divorce. Then, she married a hard-working man in Wyoming. He was a municipal judge and postmaster. They followed the rules to improve the land they got from the Homestead Act.
However, the greedy cattle barons wanted what they had and tried to intimidate and threaten the couple. Finally, the cattle barons (and their gunslingers) hanged the couple when that didn't work. The description is appalling. To avoid the consequences of their actions, the barons (who also owned the newspapers) immediately turned Ellen into Kate, the prostitute. They also erased or threatened any witnesses for the trial.
Any average, thinking individual will be incensed by the barbarity of the greedy cattle barons. They got away with it only adds to the reader's anger. But then, the author shows how lies have had a long life in books and movies. It has taken generations to uncover the real story—Bravo to Charles Rivers Editors.
However, the greedy cattle barons wanted what they had and tried to intimidate and threaten the couple. Finally, the cattle barons (and their gunslingers) hanged the couple when that didn't work. The description is appalling. To avoid the consequences of their actions, the barons (who also owned the newspapers) immediately turned Ellen into Kate, the prostitute. They also erased or threatened any witnesses for the trial.
Any average, thinking individual will be incensed by the barbarity of the greedy cattle barons. They got away with it only adds to the reader's anger. But then, the author shows how lies have had a long life in books and movies. It has taken generations to uncover the real story—Bravo to Charles Rivers Editors.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews