During the last third of the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs
created a vast open-range cattle industry in the Great Plains
region of the United States. During the War Between the States,
when Texas had been cut off from free-flowing commerce with the
rest of the country, huge herds of cattle had built up on the
states open range. Being in great supply and limited demand,
those cattle had little value in the Lone Star State, but
entrepreneurs quickly perceived that they might realize
substantial gains by collecting the cattle and driving them
north, either to sell directly to farmers and miners or to place
them on railroads for shipment to markets farther east. In
pursuit of these opportunities, however, the cattlemen faced
serious obstacles. The Great Plains contained a vast expanse of
lush grasslands, well suited for the support of cattle.
Immediately after the war, however, millions of bison still
occupied the area, along with numerous Indian tribes whose
cultures revolved around using the big beasts as a