What happened to the Cattle Drives?

the period of the cattle drives was relatively short, beginning in the 1850s, largely suspended during the Civil War, and ending in the 1890s due to railroad expansion. In the beginning, a group of cowboys would drive a herd of as many as a thousand cattle from pastures in Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico north and east to railheads. The towns at the end of the rails were those of western legend – Abeline, Dodge City, Wichita, Ellsworth, Cheyenne, Denver, Fort Worth, and Dallas.

Did you know… Maggie Brown?

Maggie was always spunky and adventurous, inclined to get her own way. She loved her parents but chafed under their rules. She valued her father’s hard work, coming from County Cork, Ireland to Missouri, and taking whatever labor jobs he could find to feed the family. As she grew to adulthood, she aspired to marry a rich man, to ease her father’s labors. When the family moved to Leadville, Colorado in 1898, she dropped that aspiration. She met JJ Brown and fell head over heels in love. After some internal struggle, she decided it best to marry a man for love rather than for money.

Dr. Anderson – Medicine Woman

In those days, when I came to Fraser, there weren’t many good roads in the northern Colorado mountains. I carried a cowbell and a revolver when I went on night calls, to keep the mountain lions away. Even now, the ranchers in those mountains get snowed in by storms, but doctors make it through. There’s some 20 below mornings when I bundle into my scarf and boots with my sheep’s wool coat, strapping on snow shoes, when I dream about retiring to Indiana