Cattle-Raising on the Plains of North America
Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. New Edition [stated]. First Printing [stated]. Hardcover. xviii, 120, [6] pages. Frontis illustration. Tables. This is one of the Western Frontier Library series. Includes Introduction by Edward Everett Dale, and a Note by Walter Baron von Richthofen. Chapters include The Great American Desert; The Eldorado of the Day; The Cattle Herds of the West, and Comparative Statistics; Climate, Temperature, Vegetation, and Grass; Branding, Lassoing, Round-Up, Cowboys, Ranch, and Range; Herds and Breeds of Cattle--Labor on Ranch and Range; Cattle-Raising, a Legitimate and Safe Business; The Great Lands in the West--Prices and Future of the Same; Some of the Largest Herds; The Existing Cattle Companies Are Prosperous,and New Ones Are Constantly Being Formed; Choice Ranges for Breeding and Fattening Cattle--The Advantages from Having a Sufficient Number of Good Bulls; Profits in Cattle-Raising, and Fortunes Made Therein; Instances of Profits Realized; Profits to Accrue from a Proposed Plan; The Future of the Cattle Business in the West; Progress of the New West. Originally published in 1885. Excellent descriptions of the Great Plains cattle operations including lists of the leading cattle companies of the early 1880's and tables of projected herd growth. This book is a must for those interested in the physical aspects of the Great Plains area of the West and in the industry which brought wealth and civilization to that part of the United States. Edward Everett Dale (February 8, 1879 – May 28, 1972) was an American historian and faculty member of the University of Oklahoma. He was a proponent of Frederick Jackson Turner's "frontier thesis" Having lived in Colorado for many years, and being engaged in raising stock, the author became fully acquainted with the cattle business. Since he has not heard of any book which treats the subject of cattle-raising in the West fully and systematically, he hopes that this publication may be of some use to his readers who contemplate embarking in this great industry. Getting rich or going broke can be a simple matter of timing. That’s how it worked out for Baron Walter von Richthofen, uncle and godfather of Manfred von Richthofen, the famed German flying ace of World War I. Frontier America’s von Richthofen got rich once and went broke twice while building up the city of Denver, Colorado—highlighted by his personal castle, which remains a mile-high landmark more than 100 years after the family finally moved out. Walter Freiherr von Richthofen was born on January 30, 1850, at Kreisewitz, Silesia, then part of Prussia, later Germany, now Poland. Baron is the English equivalent of his Germanic title, which means, roughly, “a man entitled to his own castle.”
Walter formed the Denver Chamber of Commerce, along with friend John Cochrane. Meanwhile, Richthofen latched on to two other pursuits—the cattle industry and a baronial castle in Denver. He wrote a book in English called Cattle-Raising on the Plains of North America (1885), in which he proclaimed that the Colorado front-range area was “the largest and richest grass and pasture region of the world, and that it will probably soon become the most important beef-producing country on the globe.” Money flowed in from America and Europe. Unfortunately, the brutal winter of 1886 was a catastrophe for the range-fed cattle industry, and the urban market of the time preferred fattened steers from Chicago-area feedlots. Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: Western Frontier, Cattle-raising, Denver, Colorado, Cowboys, Branding, Lassoing, Round-Up, Ranch, Great Plains, Agriculture, Beef
[Book #80390]
Price: $45.00