The Big Die-Up (or Great Die-Up) refers to the death of hundreds of thousands of cattle on the Great Plains of the United States during the unusually cold and snowy winters of 1885-86 and 1886-87. Many ranchers were bankrupted as a result and the era of the open range in which cattle roamed unfenced on the plains began its decline.
The Great Plains. Most of the large cattle ranches were located west of the 100th meridian.Waiting for a Chinook, by C.M. Russell Overgrazing and harsh winters were the factors that caused the Big Die-Up.Most of the cattle on the Great Plains in the 1880s were Texas Longhorns.
The near-extinction of the bison by hunters and the defeat of the Comanche, Lakota, Cheyenne and other tribes of Indians after the American Civil War (1861-1865) opened up the last large acreages of land for cattle ranching on the Great Plains from the Canadian border on the north to the Texas panhandle in the south.[1] Northern plains ranches were stocked with cattle from Texas. In 1868, cattle were first driven north from Texas to ranches in Nebraska.[2] In eastern Montana and the western part of the Dakotas, settlement of ranches began in the 1870s.[3] In 1876, Charles Goodnight established a ranch in Palo Duro Canyon in Texas (the heart of former Comanche land) and soon the Texas panhandle was dotted with large cattle ranches.[4]
After the Indians were forced onto reservations and their former lands became available to ranchers, the cattle industry boomed from 1880 to 1885. Most of the land was vacant, publicly-owned, and available to whoever chose to occupy it. Prices for beef were high, land was free, and domestic and foreign investors rushed into the business. Investors believed that "no other business is so safe nor so profitable as cattle raising."[5] The land in 1880 was unfenced open range. Cattle drifted with the seasons and sought out good grazing until rounded up by cowboys and herded to railroad terminals from where they were transported to eastern markets.[6] Among the investors was future-president Theodore Roosevelt who established two ranches in western North Dakota in 1883 and 1884.[7]
The Big Die-up impacted both the northern and southern Great Plains. The winter of 1885-1886 was mild on the northern plains but the blizzard of January 1886 was catastrophic for ranchers on the southern plains. The winter of 1886-1887 had a wider impact with the Big Die-up killing hundreds of thousands of cattle and bankrupting many ranchers on both the northern and southern plains.[8][9]
Texas and the 1886 blizzard
In 1875 the Indian tribes of the southern Great Plains had been relocated to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).[10] The Texas panhandle was open to white settlement and by 1880 ranches had been established throughout the panhandle. The severe winter of 1880-1881 caused many cattle in Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska to migrate southward in search of shelter and good grazing. They competed with locally-owned cattle, putting pressure on pastures. The Panhandle Stock Raisers Association decided to string drift fences of barbed wire from east to west across the northern edge of each rancher's range to prevent cattle from further north straying into the Panhandle. The longest of the drift fences stretched westward for 200mi (320km) from Higgins across the width of the Panhandle and into New Mexico.[11]
In 1883, With the Texas panhandle already crowded with cattle, ranchers leased 3,000,000 acres (12,000km2) of land in Indian Territory from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Disputes resulted in the threat of violence between Indians and ranchers and in 1885 President Grover Cleveland ordered the ranchers to remove their cattle from Indian territory. This added more than 200,000 cattle to the already over-grazed land in the Texas panhandle and Kansas. "Pastures that could have sustained 'a cow on every 40 acres had one on every 10 acres.'"[12]
Adding to the problems in 1885, prices for cattle fell and autumn was unseasonably dry. In November large wildfires burned grassland from the Arkansas River in Kansas southward to northeastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma panhandle, and the Texas panhandle. The grass that remained was insufficient to sustain the cattle on the range.[13]
On January 1, 1886, a snowstorm dropped up to one foot (.30 m) of snow in western Kansas. On January 6, 1886, the United States Army Signal Corps, the predecessor of the National Weather Service, issued a warning of a cold wave descending onto the southern plains. That morning, Larned, Kansas enjoyed mild temperatures but by midnight the town closed down due to blizzard conditions. In Dodge City the temperature dropped to −16.2°F (−26.8°C) and Austin, Texas recorded a low of −6.5°F (−21.4°C) degrees. Heavy winds piled up snow two to three feet (.5 to 1.0 mts) deep in the Texas panhandle and New Mexico, closing roads for up to one month. Galveston Bay on the Gulf of Mexico froze.[14]
Prior to the blizzard, an estimated 2.5 million cattle inhabited the southern plains. The cattle were prevented from migrating to sheltered and more southerly areas by the drift fences and their bodies piled up near the fences, in rivers, and along the railroads. Ranchers in New Mexico cut their fences to allow the cattle to seek shelter in sheltered valleys. Twenty-five percent of the cattle north of the Canadian River where drift fences were present are estimated to have died; south of the river the losses were only one percent. Individual ranchers often lost a larger percentage of their herds. Cowboys were put to work harvesting hides of dead cattle and 400,000 were marketed in Dodge City.[15]
The 1886-1887 winter
The impact of the blizzards in the southern plains in early 1886 was compounded by conditions later that year, especially on the northern plains. The summer and fall were dry and grass was in poor condition for grazing cattle. The first blizzard of winter occurred on November 22 and 23. Cattle had trouble digging through the snow to reach to grass underneath. In late December the weather turned very cold reaching an unofficial temperature of −35°F (−37°C) at Glendive, Montana. Bitterly cold weather returned in late January and a newspaper report said "more snow has fallen this year than any previous year in west Dakota." Bismark, North Dakota reported temperatures of −43°F (−42°C) on February 1 and 12.[16] The winter weather even reached the West Coast, with snowfall of 3.7 inches in downtown San Francisco setting an all-time record on February 5, 1887.[17]
A chinook wind melted the snow in early March and ranchers began to assess the impact of the winter on their cattle. Some estimates were low (to reassure investors) but most ranchers estimated losses of 50 to 90 percent of their herds. Roosevelt's cattle ranches near Medora, Dakota Territory were among those hit hard by that winter. In a letter to his friend Henry Cabot Lodge, Roosevelt remarked "Well, we have had a perfect smashup all through the cattle country of the northwest. The losses are crippling. For the first time I have been utterly unable to enjoy a visit to my ranch. I shall be glad to get home." Many of the ranchers went broke. In Custer County, Montana the tax rolls in 1886 listed 200 ranchers; in 1888 the total was 120. The number of cattle shipped to eastern U.S. markets from Montana in 1887 was only two-thirds that of 1886 even though in 1887 ranchers engaged in panic selling of their remaining cattle in an effort to remain financially viable.[18]
Impact
Despite the losses and the poor condition of the grasslands, the plains recovered quickly -- aided by the reduction in the number of cattle and favorable weather during the remainder of 1887 and 1888. Prices for cattle improved in 1888, but in the words of one historian "the days of the open range never returned."[19] The Big Die-up caused changes in the ways of the cattlemen. Laws increasingly restricted the right of cattlemen to graze on "open" (publicly-owned) lands. The number of small scale ranchers proliferated. They built fences to enclose their herds and improved the quality of their cattle by introducing new breeds and providing them shelter, forage, and water rather than allowing them to roam freely. Ranching after the Big Die-up "became more a business, less a gamble."[20]
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and usually stretch to hundreds or thousands of kilometres.
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flatland in North America. The region is located just to the east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include the mixed grass prairie, the tallgrass prairie between the Great Lakes and Appalachian Plateau, and the Taiga Plains and Boreal Plains ecozones in Northern Canada. "Great Plains", or Western Plains, is also the ecoregion of the Great Plains or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains.
The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River and the Wyoming Range War, was a range conflict that took place in Johnson County, Wyoming from 1889 to 1893. The conflict began when cattle companies started ruthlessly persecuting alleged rustlers in the area, many of whom were settlers who competed with them for livestock, land and water rights. As violence swelled between the large established ranchers and the smaller settlers in the state, it culminated in the Powder River Country, when the ranchers hired gunmen, who invaded the county. The gunmen's initial incursion in the territory alerted the small farmers and ranchers, as well as the state lawmen, and they formed a posse of 200 men that led to a grueling standoff which ended when the United States Cavalry on the orders of President Benjamin Harrison relieved the two forces, although further fighting persisted.
Sterling County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,372, making it the ninth-least populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Sterling City. The county is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area. Sterling County was one of 30 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a moist county.
The XIT Ranch was a cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle which operated from 1885 to 1912. Comprising over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of land, it ran for 200 miles (300 km) along the border with New Mexico, varying in width from 20 to 30 miles. The massive ranch stretched through ten counties in Texas and at its peak regularly handled 150,000 head of cattle. The brand "XIT" was chosen for its difficulty to alter thus thwarting rustlers.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a national park of the United States in the badlands of western North Dakota comprising three geographically separated areas. Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named directly after a single person.
A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agrotourism.
The Grant–Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, created in 1972, commemorates the Western cattle industry from its 1850s inception through recent times. The original ranch was established in 1862 by a Canadian fur trader, Johnny Grant, at Cottonwood Creek, Montana, along the banks of the Clark Fork river. The ranch was later expanded by a cattle baron, Conrad Kohrs (1866–1920). The 1,618 acres (6.55 km2) historic site is maintained today as a working ranch by the National Park Service.
The Nokota horse is a feral and semi-feral horse breed located in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota in the United States. The breed developed in the 19th century from foundation bloodstock consisting of ranch-bred horses produced from the horses of local Native Americans mixed with Spanish horses, Thoroughbreds, harness horses and related breeds. The Nokota was almost wiped out during the early 20th century when ranchers, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, worked together to reduce competition for livestock grazing. However, when Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in the 1940s, a few bands were inadvertently trapped inside, and thus were preserved.
A drift fence is any long, continuous fence used to control the movement of animals in a particular open range, or to collect animals for research.
The winter of 1886–1887, also known as the Great Die-Up, was extremely harsh for much of continental North America, especially the United States. Although it affected other regions in the country, it is most known for its effects on the Western United States and its cattle industry. This winter marked the end of the open range era and led to the entire reorganization of ranching.
Cattle drives were a major economic activity in the 19th and early 20th century American West, particularly between 1850s and 1910s. In this period, 27 million cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas, for shipment to stockyards in St. Louis and points east, and direct to Chicago. The long distances covered, the need for periodic rests by riders and animals, and the establishment of railheads led to the development of "cow towns" across the frontier.
The Great Western Cattle Trail is the name used today for a cattle trail established during the late 19th century for moving beef stock and horses to markets in eastern and northern states. It ran west of and roughly parallel to the better known Chisholm Trail into Kansas, reaching an additional major railhead there for shipping beef to Chicago, or longhorns and horses continuing on further north by trail to stock open-range ranches in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana in the United States, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.
The Holiday Blizzards were major storms occurring in two segments during the last two weeks of December 2006 in the Denver, Colorado area. The blizzards occurred within a week of each other. A subsequent storm, narrower in scope, struck the area less than a week after the second blizzard, further hampering removal efforts and travel in the region. The blizzard covered homes.
The shortgrass prairie is an ecosystem located in the Great Plains of North America. The two most dominant grasses in the shortgrass prairie are blue grama and buffalograss, the two less dominant grasses in the prairie are greasegrass and sideoats grama. The prairie was formerly maintained by grazing pressure of American bison, which is the keystone species. Due to its semiarid climate, the shortgrass prairie receives on average less precipitation than that of the tall and mixed grass prairies to the east.
A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as horses, elk, American bison, ostrich, emu, and alpaca.
American Prairie is a prairie-based nature reserve in Central Montana, United States, on a shortgrass prairie ecosystem with migration corridors and native wildlife. This wildlife conservation area is being developed as a private project of the American Prairie Foundation (APF), a non-profit organization. The reserve covers 462,803 acres (187,290 ha). The organization hopes to expand it greatly through a combination of both private and public lands.
The sheep wars, or the sheep and cattle wars, were a series of armed conflicts in the Western United States fought between sheepmen and cattlemen over grazing rights. Sheep wars occurred in many western states, though they were most common in Texas, Arizona, and the border region of Wyoming and Colorado. Generally, the cattlemen saw the sheepherders as invaders who destroyed the public grazing lands, which they had to share on a first-come, first-served basis. Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 120 engagements occurred in eight states or territories. At least 54 men were killed and some 50,000 to over 100,000 sheep were slaughtered.
In the Western United States and Canada, open range is rangeland where cattle roam freely regardless of land ownership. Where there are "open range" laws, those wanting to keep animals off their property must erect a fence to keep animals out; this applies to public roads as well. Land in open range that is designated as part of a "herd district" reverses liabilities, requiring an animal's owner to fence it in or otherwise keep it on the person's own property. Most eastern states and jurisdictions in Canada require owners to fence in or herd their livestock.
The conservation of bison in North America is an ongoing, diverse effort to bring American bison back from the brink of extinction. Plains bison, a subspecies, are a keystone species in the North American Great Plains. Bison are a species of conservation concern in part because they suffered a severe population bottleneck at the end of the 19th century. The near extinction of the species during the 19th century unraveled fundamental ties between bison, grassland ecosystems, and indigenous peoples’ cultures and livelihoods. English speakers used the word buffalo for this animal when they arrived. Bison was used as the scientific term to distinguish them from the true buffalo. Buffalo is commonly used as it continues to hold cultural significance, particularly for Indigenous people.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
