Wyoming's Historic Ranches Quotes

“Although the cowboy image is usually of a young white male, the reality is that an estimated one-third of them were black, Mexican, or Indian.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“One source noted that monthly wages (with room and board) remained about the same during the 30-year period following the Civil War, with the typical cowboy earning around $30, a top hand receiving $40–$45, trail bosses paid $50–$60, and range foremen collecting the highest wage, about $125. As ranching developed following the open range period, the need for labor decreased due to fencing and the streamlining of operations.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“For the most part, human interaction with the animals occurred twice a year: for branding in the spring and shipping in the fall. (ARC.)”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“The early outfits established their headquarters, like the one seen here, near the meandering rivers and streams on a first come, first served basis. By doing so, they believed it also guaranteed them primary control of the water rights, very important in the arid west, over the latecomers and homesteaders who inevitably followed.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“homesteaders, who were entitled to 160 acres each under the 1862 Homestead Act.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“The average Texas cattle herd driven northward numbered 2,500 cows, composed primarily of hardy Texas longhorns, a breed that could travel long distances without water. A dozen cowboys, including a trail boss, along with 50–60 horses, four mules, and a chuck wagon (sometimes called a mess wagon) that hauled the food and bedding, accompanied the herd. Starting shortly after dawn, with a noon break, they moved about 15 miles a day. The trip could take from four to six months.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“A single cow and her calf (or the equivalent of five sheep) on a Wyoming ranch required from 10 acres where the grass grew well to as many as 170 acres in places like the Red Desert.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“By 1877, three Congressional acts, the 1862 Homestead Act, the 1873 Timber Culture Act, and the 1877 Desert Land Act, with various fees and provisions, allowed a homesteader to claim 840 acres. Through these acts, the national government encouraged the settlement of the public domain by the American ideal of the independent farmer who owned his own land, an idea promoted by Thomas Jefferson. Thousands of people attempted to pursue that dream and flocked to Wyoming during the first three decades of the 20th century. Settlement in many parts of Wyoming”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“One expert from this time estimated there were two million cattle in Wyoming in 1885, although an 1884 report to the Department of the Interior from the territorial governor varied quite a bit from that number and enumerated only 750,000 cows. During the open range era, very few ranchers supplied winter feed for their cattle; instead, they depended upon the ability of the range to nourish the cows year-round. In addition to the overstocked range, a particularly dry 1886 summer followed by an early, wet, and bitterly cold fall and winter led to the death of thousands of starving animals unable to dig through the ice-covered snow to reach the grass underneath.”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches

“Men made fortunes in the cattle business during the open range era, which lasted only a short period of time before it collapsed in the winter of 1886–1887, a winter that remains famous in western ranching history. By”
― Nancy Weidel, Wyoming's Historic Ranches