Cattle towns facts for kids

Cattle towns were special places in the American Midwest, like busy hubs for the cattle industry. These towns depended a lot on the yearly cattle drives from Texas. Cowboys would bring huge herds of cattle, and these towns were where the cattle were bought and then shipped off to big cities for meat, or to other ranchers.

You could usually find cattle towns where railroads met livestock trails. They were the final stop for the long cattle drives. Even though movies and stories often show these towns as wild places full of rowdy cowboys and outlaws, with brave lawmen keeping order, much of that was just exaggerated stories and myths.

Famous Cattle Towns

Kansas Cattle Towns

The very first cattle town was Abilene, which became a major market for Texas cattle in 1867. Abilene was very successful until farmers started settling all the land around it. This cut off the cattle trails, and Abilene could no longer be a cattle town.

In 1872, other towns like Ellsworth, Newton, and Wichita took Abilene's place. These three towns were on different railroads and competed to get the most cattle business. But by 1875, they also lost access to the cattle trails because more and more farms were built around them.

Dodge City became the main cattle town in 1876, and Caldwell joined it in 1880. However, in 1885, Kansas made a law that stopped Texas cattle from coming into the state, which ended the cattle trade for both towns.

Nebraska Cattle Towns

Many Texas cattle drivers started looking for new routes because they weren't happy with the Kansas Pacific Railroad and found cheaper prices with the Union Pacific. Also, more settlers, like farmers and ranchers, moved onto the old cattle trails in Kansas and Nebraska. This meant old towns had to be left behind, and new ones were started.

Schuyler was the first cattle town in Nebraska in 1870. But soon, too many settlers moved into the area, forcing cattle drivers to find a new market. The next town was Kearney, but just like Schuyler, settlers blocked its access to the cattle trail.

Finally, Ogallala became the main "cowboy capital" of Nebraska in 1873. It was known as a pretty lively town, like many cattle towns, and saw a lot of excitement during the busiest times of the cattle boom.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Cheyenne became the center of the Wyoming cattle trade because it was easy to reach by railroad. It was different from most cattle towns because it was also a social and cultural hub. Cheyenne had an opera house, a fancy club, and many businesses and large homes. Famous people like Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane lived there. Unlike other cattle towns, Cheyenne had many different types of businesses, not just cattle. This helped it stay strong even when the cattle trade slowed down.

Miles City, Montana

Miles City was always a stop on the cattle drives from Texas. It was a place where cowboys could let their herds rest and get stronger before going to market. In 1881, the Northern Pacific Railroad built its line through the city. Then, in 1884, the Montana Stockgrowers Association was formed there, making Miles City a very important cattle market.

Medora, North Dakota

Medora was the main center for the cattle trade in North Dakota for a long time. Local ranchers would bring their cattle to the Medora stockyards. The Medora Grazing Association helped keep the industry going. Many other ranchers from all over North Dakota also drove their cattle to Medora to be shipped out.

Cowboys in Town

Cowboys had an interesting role in cattle towns. Some people saw them as the reason for the wild behavior that others wanted to stop. But the cattle towns actually made a lot of money from the businesses that cowboys used when they were in town. So, the "respectable" people in cattle towns had to put up with the cowboys' lively ways because they helped the towns make money. This continued until farmers took up all the land around the towns, allowing the towns to survive without relying so much on the cattle trade.

Being a cowboy was actually very hard work. They would spend months with only other cowboys and their cattle for company. Many people admired cowboys for their hard work and cheerful attitudes, even though they also liked to spend their earnings on fun activities. People often had a mixed idea of cowboys, seeing them as both hardworking American heroes and people who enjoyed a good time.

Challenges and Changes

Many people who lived in and around cattle towns didn't like the cattle drives. There were two main groups of critics: farmers and the townspeople themselves. As farming spread from the cattle towns into the surrounding areas, the cattle trails were cut off. Cowboys would then have to guide their herds through farmers' fields. Farmers worried about their crops being trampled. They also feared a disease called Texas fever. This disease is spread by ticks that live on Texas Longhorn cattle. The Longhorns are naturally immune, but the disease is very dangerous for other types of livestock.

Townspeople also had issues with the cattle drives. They didn't like the increasing number of saloons and entertainment spots that catered to the cowboys who came to town with the cattle.

Town Leadership Changes

In the early days of cattle towns, the leaders were often people who ran saloons, gambling halls, and entertainment places. These businesses were at the heart of the town and brought in a lot of money. However, over time, the leadership of these towns shifted to a more "respectable" group. This group included merchants, ranchers, professionals, and farmers. Both groups generally believed that things like fighting fires, getting water, and funding schools were private matters, not public ones.

This change in leadership was also helped by new ideas and ways of life from the eastern United States, which came to the frontier cattle towns. A big part of this change was when more women moved to these settlements. Women helped make communities more stable. They created families and encouraged values that were common in the East, which slowly changed the wilder, cowboy ways of the old cattle towns.

Cattle Town Myths

Cattle towns are often remembered as some of the most dangerous places, where outlaws, lawmen, and cowboys were always fighting. But this wasn't really true. Cattle towns actually had lower rates of serious crime than many cities in the East.

For example, towns like Wichita were sometimes criticized by other towns, like Topeka, who said Wichita was a place of crime and trouble. Wichita responded to these claims, saying there were no murders and that the city was orderly and civilized. The local newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, even said that people in Wichita had fewer problems than those in Topeka. These different stories show that even back then, myths and rumors were often more popular than the truth. The truth was that cattle towns were usually livelier than ordinary cities, but they weren't the super dangerous places that many stories claimed.