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The Cattlemen's Frontier: A Record of the Trans-Mississippi Cattle Industry from Oxen Trains to Pooling Companies, 1850-1890.

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In the 1930's, Arthur H. Clark out of southern California published a series of important, comprehensive, and readable books on the history of the West. Many of them were biographies while others took a broader view.

All of them were quality pieces of work: handsome octavos bound in rich-colored dark cloth on heavy stock with deckle edges, sewn bindings, illustrated with full-page plates.

Here we have Pelzer's look at how "cow country" turned into a vast kingdom of cattle ranching beginning in the years before the Civil War to the end of the 19th century. This industry of the range, for the most part, occurred after the conquest of the Indians, and was aided immeasurably by the establishment of the railroads and of packing houses and stockyards.

Pelzer explains that researching this time is problematic because, unlike the 49ers and government surveyors, the cattle men tended not to be diarists or letter writers. Thus, to tell his tale he has dug into personal accounts, yes, but also to trade records of the industry, 19th century histories, stock association documents, records of legal battles, newspaper accounts, and governmental reports.

With a 50 p illustrated Appendix of cattle brands and earmarks.

351 pp, illustrated, 7 plates, index, 9 p bibliography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ox-Team Freighting on the Plains
The Texas Cattle Trails
The Shifting Cow Towns of Kansas

Cattle Pools and Associations
A Cattlemen's Commonweath
The Boom of Cattle Companies in the Eighties

Cattle at $1.80 per Hundredweight
Economics and Finances of the Cattle Ranges

Illegal Fencing on the Western Range
A Decade on the Dakota Ranches

Contemporary Portraits of the Frontier

In the 1930's, Arthur H. Clark out of southern California published a series of important, comprehensive, and readable books on the history of the West. Many of them were biographies while others took a broader view.

All of them were quality pieces of work: handsome octavos bound in rich-colored dark cloth on heavy stock with deckle edges, sewn bindings, illustrated with full-page plates.

Here we have Pelzer's look at how "cow country" turned into a vast kingdom of cattle ranching beginning in the years before the Civil War to the end of the 19th century. This industry of the range, for the most part, occurred after the conquest of the Indians, and was aided immeasurably by the establishment of the railroads and of packing houses and stockyards.

Pelzer explains that researching this time is problematic because, unlike the 49ers and government surveyors, the cattle men tended not to be diarists or letter writers. Thus, to tell his tale he has dug into personal accounts, yes, but also to trade records of the industry, 19th century histories, stock association documents, records of legal battles, newspaper accounts, and governmental reports.

With a 50 p illustrated Appendix of cattle brands and earmarks.

351 pp, illustrated, 7 plates, index, 9 p bibliography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ox-Team Freighting on the Plains
The Texas Cattle Trails
The Shifting Cow Towns of Kansas

Cattle Pools and Associations
A Cattlemen's Commonweath
The Boom of Cattle Companies in the Eighties

Cattle at $1.80 per Hundredweight
Economics and Finances of the Cattle Ranges

Illegal Fencing on the Western Range
A Decade on the Dakota Ranches

Contemporary Portraits of the Frontier