Notes on Cowboys, the Wild West, and Homesteaders

Post-Civil War prosperity in the Northeast created a demand for beef.
Ranchers, particularly in Texas, raised a lot of cows, utilizing the abundant grass in the Great Plains.
Cows required cowhands, or cowboys, who adopted techniques and clothing from Mexican vaqueros.
Cowboys gained a reputation for being wild when they arrived in towns.
The need for local lawmen or vigilantes to control cowboys and outlaws contributed to the myth of the Wild West.
The West was not significantly wilder than the rest of the country.
Vigilante: A person without legal authority who takes the law into their own hands.
Wyatt Earp: A famous peace officer of the western frontier, also a farmer, buffalo hunter, and gambler.
His participation in a gunfight at the O.K. Corral made him an iconic figure of the Wild West.

Homestead Act: Passed in 1862, it made federally claimed land in the West available to anyone who agreed to settle on it.
Homesteaders: People who claimed and settled on land promised to them by the Homestead Act, including women and Black Americans.
The act gave settlers 160 acres of land - land that often belonged to Indigenous people with treaty rights - to get started.
Originally seen as a desert that couldn't be farmed, the Great Plains proved valuable to determined farmers.

Population growth led to more demand for food and consequently more need for farming.
Increased farming resulted in more profits for farmers and attracted more farmers.
More farmers produced more food, leading to an oversupply and lower prices.
By the mid-1860s, farmers were losing money, blaming high shipping fees, high costs for supplies, and high-interest payments.