The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America [Paperback]

Paul I. Wellman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1988

Cattle crossed the Rio Grande into what is now the United States as early as 1580, forty years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In this colorful and comprehensive history of the cattle industry in the American West, Paul I. Wellman reaches back to the early sixteenth century, when the first cattle were brought from Spain to Mexico. He hits his stride in describing the great cattle drives that began after the Civil War when Texans desperately needed to ex-pand their markets. Hell-bent cow towns like Abilene and Dodge City make a big noise again, and so do figures of different bents: Joseph C. McCoy, Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving, John Chisum, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Wild Bill Hickok, and Billy the Kid. The coming of barbed wire and the great blizzards of 1886 and 1887 brought about dramatic changes in the cattle industry—all chronicled down to 1939, when The Trampling Herd was first published.

Product Details

• Paperback: 433 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (August 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803297238
• ISBN-13: 978-0803297234
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #999,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable to the Old West lover's library, August 13, 2003

By 

Chrijeff (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America (Paperback)

Novelist and historian Wellman here provides an indescribably superior one-volume story of the range-cattle business that reads as easily as fiction. Beginning with the Spanish roots of the Southwestern cattle ranches, he goes on to tell something of the early Anglo settlement of Texas, the troubles with the Comanches, the "hide-and-tallow empire" built up in antebellum days, the effects of the Civil War, the clashes with the Kansans, the founding of Abilene. He talks about stampedes and what was done about them, great trail towns and their lawmen, lean years and fat ones, the cowboy's work and play, and a gallery of unforgettable Western characters, good, bad, and indifferent. He studies the Lincoln County War, the coming of "bobwire," and why cowmen hated sheep. There is information I got from this book that I've found nowhere else. You will say the same. Every lover of Western social history should be glad to see it back in print.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Home on the Range, August 31, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America (Hardcover)

Wellman, who died in 1966, was born in Oklahoma and worked on Wichita and Kansas City newspaper for much of his life, before moving to California and freelance writing. This book, written in 1939, is an excellent summary account of the cattle trade in the West, from 1580 to the early 1900s. He touches on just about everything having to do with his topic, from historical figures and events to equipment. I thought he spent a tad too much space on Billy the Kid, the Earps, and such (they don't seem that important to the cattle business), but he's an excellent writer. The first half of the book is the best. Recommended.