Evolution of Grazing and Agriculture
Okay, so picture this: the Wild West. We’re talking cowboys, cattle, and a whole lot of land. But how did we get from there to the sprawling farms and fields we see today? Buckle up, ’cause we’re about to take a trip back in time to explore the evolution of grazing and agriculture in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
The Indian Situation
First things first, let’s talk about the Native Americans. Unlike the early days of New England or Kentucky, the settlers heading west didn’t face as much resistance from Native tribes. Sure, there were skirmishes and battles, like Custer’s Last Stand, but overall, the impact was relatively minor.
By 1871, the government had stopped treating Native tribes as independent nations and started moving them onto reservations. A board of commissioners was created in 1869 to oversee their affairs, but let’s be real, they didn’t always have the Native’s best interests at heart.
In 1887, the government started giving individual Native Americans land, hoping they’d become farmers or cattle ranchers and assimilate into white society. And with the buffalo population dwindling, many Native Americans were more willing to trade the nomadic life of a hunter for a more settled existence on a reservation or farm.
Cowboys and Cattle Drives
Now, let’s talk about cowboys! These guys were the real deal, driving massive herds of cattle across the plains from Texas to the Missouri Valley. We’re talking about nearly a million head of cattle being moved north in a single year (1884), all thanks to 4,000 cowboys and 30,000 horses.
For about two decades, from 1870 to 1890, cattlemen and sheep raisers had free rein of the plains, using public lands without paying a dime. But their reign wouldn’t last forever. As more and more homesteaders and land companies moved in, they started fencing off the land with barbed wire, spelling the end of the open range.
By 1893, people were already lamenting the passing of the cowboy era. Towns were popping up on grazing lands, irrigation projects threatened to turn pastures into farmland, and the days of the free-spirited cowboy were numbered. The cowboys themselves were changing, too, with more men working for wages instead of the love of the lifestyle.
Homesteading and Settlement
So, what fueled this rapid settlement of the West? Two things: the railroad companies selling land at cheap prices and the Homestead Act of 1862. This act basically gave away land to anyone willing to settle and farm it for five years. All you needed was a small registration fee, and boom, you got 160 acres of land.
Civil War veterans even got a break, with their military service counting towards the five-year requirement. This attracted tons of people, including immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and Scandinavia. Between 1867 and 1874, a whopping 27 million acres were claimed as quarter-section farms. States like Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and the Dakotas saw their populations explode.
Western Agriculture: A Mixed Bag
Western agriculture was a whole different ballgame compared to the East and South. You had your typical small farms owned and operated by families, but you also had massive estates owned by foreign or Eastern companies, tilled by hired labor. These large estates sometimes became "bonanza farms," focusing on wheat and corn and using machinery on a large scale. Or they might be cattle ranches spanning tens of thousands of acres.
Then you had places like the Santa Anita ranch in California, a 60,000-acre domain with vineyards, orchards, pastures, and horse ranches, all with customs passed down from the Spanish owners.
Irrigation: Making the Desert Bloom
But here’s where things get really interesting: irrigation. In a huge area spanning Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of other states, rainfall was scarce. Farmers couldn’t grow the crops they were used to.
Enter the Mormons, who figured out irrigation and built some seriously impressive systems. As more settlers poured into the West, they tackled the desert with a can-do attitude. Some even said it was easier to dig an irrigation ditch than to clear forests and deal with stumps and stones.
Private companies bought up land, built irrigation works, and sold it off in smaller plots. Some ranchers even struck water by sinking wells, turning "good-for-nothing sand into good-for-anything loam." The federal government got in on the action in 1894, granting land to the states for irrigation purposes. Wyoming led the way with a law that encouraged investment in irrigation and allowed for the sale of reclaimed lands to settlers. Finally, in 1902, the federal government passed the Reclamation Act, adding its weight to the effort to conquer "arid America."
As E. Alexander Powell put it, the white man fought a courageous fight and won a brilliant victory in Arizona, using tools like transits, levels, drills, and spades to conquer the forces of nature. They built highways, established law and order, and transformed the desert with canals and irrigation ditches. They replaced aloe with alfalfa, mesquite with maize, and cactus with cotton, creating one of the most inspiring chapters in American history.
Other desert regions had been redeemed by irrigation, like Egypt and Mesopotamia, but the people there often waited for someone else to do the work. The Arizonians, on the other hand, worked hard and wrote letters to Washington, eventually prompting the government to build dams like the Laguna and Roosevelt. The people then formed cooperative leagues and water-users associations to continue the work of reclamation.
The result of all this irrigation was amazing. Sand and sagebrush turned into fertile fields of wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables, and grass. Huge ranches were broken up into smaller plots. The cowboy and ranchman disappeared, replaced by a prosperous community with intensive tillage and small holdings. The development of water power also provided electricity, making life easier for farmers and their families.
So there you have it: the evolution of grazing and agriculture in the West, from cowboys and cattle drives to homesteaders and irrigation projects. It’s a story of change, adaptation, and the relentless pursuit of a better life.