Cattle baron is a historic term for a local businessman and landowner who possessed great power or influence through the operation of a large

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

with many

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...

. Cattle barons in the late 19th century United States were also sometimes referred to as cowmen, stockmen, or just ranchers. In Australia, similar individuals owned large

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

s. A similar phenomenon occurred in part of Canada in the early twentieth century.

Notable examples

''In the American

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

:'' * Otto Franc *

Charles Goodnight Charles Goodnight (March 5, 1836 – December 12, 1929), also known as Charlie Goodnight, was a rancher in the American West. In 1955, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Early ...

Essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

J. Frank Dobie James Frank Dobie (September 26, 1888 – September 18, 1964) was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for his many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open rang ...

said that Goodnight "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history." *

John Chisum John Simpson Chisum (August 16, 1824 – December 23, 1884) was a wealthy cattle baron in the American West in the mid-to-late 19th century. He was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and moved with his family to the Republic of Texas in 1837, ...

*Tom McCall *

Conrad Kohrs Conrad Kohrs, born Carsten Conrad Kohrs (August 5, 1835 – 23 July 1920) was a Montana cattle rancher (cattle baron) and politician. Biography He was born in Holstein, a province that was ethnically and culturally German and part of the ...

; see Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site *

Oliver Loving Oliver Loving (December 4, 1812 – September 25, 1867) was an American rancher and cattle driver. Together with Charles Goodnight, he developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He was mortally wounded by Native Americans while on a cattle drive. ...

* James Dolan *

Susan McSween Susan McSween (née Hummer; December 30, 1845 – January 3, 1931) was a prominent cattlewoman of the 19th century, once called the "Cattle Queen of New Mexico", and the widow of Alexander McSween, a leading factor in the Lincoln County War, who w ...

Frank Wolcott Frank Wolcott (1840–1910) was an officer in the Union Army, a law man and a rancher. Biography Early life Wolcott was born December 13, 1840 in Canandaigua, New York. He served in the Union Army in the Civil War, and was promoted to the ...

Margaret Borland Margaret Heffernan Borland (April 3, 1824 – July 5, 1873) was a pioneering frontier woman who ran her own ranch, as well as handled her own herds. She made a name for herself as a cattle baron and was famous for the drive of Texas Longhorn catt ...

''In Australia:'' * Peter Menegazzo *

Sidney Kidman Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 18572 September 1935), known as Sid Kidman and popularly named "the Cattle King", was an Australian pastoral farming, pastoralist and entrepreneur who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime. ...

''In Canada:'' *

The Big Four (Calgary) The Big Four were the wealthy Alberta cattlemen Patrick Burns, George Lane, A. E. Cross and Archibald J. McLean. Together they founded the Calgary Stampede, as well as other cultural and entrepreneurial activities in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in ...

(four businessmen: two ranchers, a meat packer, and a brewer who founded the

Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and featu ...

, the world's richest

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

) ** George Lane, rancher **

A. E. Cross Alfred Ernest Cross (June 26, 1861 – March 10, 1932) was a Canadian politician, rancher and brewer, known as one of the Big Four who founded the Calgary Stampede in 1912. Early life Born in Montreal, Cross was the oldest of seven children. ...

, rancher

Bar U Ranch The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site, located near Longview, Alberta, is a preserved ranch that for 70 years was one of the leading ranching operations in Canada. At its peak, the ranch extended over with 30,000 cattle and 1000 Percheron ho ...

** Patrick Burns **

Archibald J. McLean Archibald James McLean (September 25, 1860 – October 13, 1933) was a Ranch, cattleman and politician from Ontario, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the The Big Four (Calgary), Big Four who helped found the Calgary Stampede in 1912. Biography ...

''In England:'' *

Jonathan Wall (Cambridge) Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

(Baron of Cambridge who held a significant amount of land on which he kept several thousand cattle)

In popular culture

Cattle barons appear in numerous

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

novels and films, often as

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

s. Such films include ''

Broken Lance ''Broken Lance'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The film stars Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, and Katy Jurado. Shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope, the fil ...

'' (1954), '' Lawman'' (1971) and '' Heaven's Gate'' (1980). In the ''Fallout'' video game series, Brahmin barons are exactly the same as cattle barons but herd mutated livestock instead of normal animals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattle Baron Animal husbandry occupations American frontier American cattlemen American ranchers Western (genre) staples and terminology

Notable examples

In popular culture

See also

References