cowboyandsettlerlife

COWBOY AND SETTLER LIFE IN THE WEST

Starting in the years of the mid 1800's, movement westward was becoming the new "Big thing". When the government was attempting to remove the Indians or turning them towards Assimilation from the plains, land was open, and empty. While buffalo were vanishing, cattle and horses were roaming free. Ranchers took advantage of this opportunity and turned the open plain into an open business. American settlers made their way west and had to learn how to live the western lifestyle. These particular settlers, cowboys, learned the ways of the vaquero from Mexico. Cowboys then went to work herding longhorns, pioneering the Open range.

Being a cowboy wasn't all that dandy. It was more than just sleeping under the stars and partying and drinking, it was hard work. Every day was a new day of maybe dying because the cattle route trails were lonely and welcoming to any vicious animals. One cowboy who became the best cattle-driver in texas said, “I would give out, just like a horse, and lay down in the road and drop off to sleep and when I would awaken the wolves would be all around me, snapping and snarling” by Charles Goodnight.  A cowboy's day consists of a 14 hour day on the ranch and then another 14 hours on the trial. He/She (cowgirl) would be an expert rider and roper. They usually carry guns to protect the herd and oneself from wild animals, not so much to chase outlaws. During the spring roundup, cowboys go out in search for herd of longhorn to put in their corrals. Once all cattle is rounded up, they are all branded and are now ready to go for the long drives on the trails. During the long drives, cowboys didn't have a place to stay at night after a long day. Usually they sleep on the ground and bathe in a nearby river. The trip was very risky, even storms would roll by and at any point a strike of lightning could create a stampede of cattle. Every day was a life-risking situation for a cowboy, but it never stopped them.  Key Terms:
 * = [|Cowboy] [|Vaquero] [|Corral]  [|Branded]  ||

==== Then eventually the open range era did come to an end... mainly because of the invention of barbed wire. It was so cheap to buy and easy to make into a fence to keep cattle together. The open range was over. ====

 SETTLER LIFE   With the encouragement of the government to move westward, millions of while settlers packed-up and headed to the unclaimed lands of the west.One way was Frederick Jackson Turner's Thesis. One other powerful way of attracting people was the Homestead Act. It declared that any leader of a household could claim 160 acres of land. Over 600,000 families made the move west. It was probably a much easier proccess thanks to the help of the finished Transcontinental Railroad. Besides the white settlers, there were the Exodusters. These people wanted an oppertunity of instant riches aswell, so the moves west, mostly to Kansas. Once the Frontier was too full of settlers, the government stopped anymore people who looked for land out west. The frontier was officially closed. Now it was time for people who settled there to get to work. <span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Of course when you settle down somewhere, you need a home. Well since the West was a new place and environment, people had to find a way to make a place called home. Homes were made of sod called Soddies. Houses couldn't be built by trees because trees were scarce in the wide open plains. Moving west meant starting all over, from the beginning. Farming was what everyone turned toward, but one man wasn't enought to farm 160 acres of land, so that's when women started to work more. A typical woman now did her own typical chores and some of her husband's farming jobs. Women became a huge help in homes and communites. Since people needed new ways to tend farms much faster, new inventions were big in the west. Even though there were inventions, like on the prairie was still very difficult. Hardships like droughts,floods, fires, blizzards, plagues, and raids of outlaws got in the way all of the time. But what helped each and every family get through the hardships was the care from family-to-family in a community. It brought everyone together with a common cause.

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