Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1994
Abstract
From Zane Grey novels to the television series Rawhide, the cattle-trailing period has always fascinated Americans. Jimmy M. Skaggs presents a very readable account of this brief but very important period in the settlement of the American West. Skaggs an economic historian structures his work as a study of the activities of Great Plains cattle-trailing contractors. First published in 1973 and now reprinted the book also includes information on the establishment of stockyards and commission companies. These were vital to the efficient handling of the tremendous influx of beef cattle being trailed up from Texas following the Civil War.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly 14:1 (Winter 1994). Copyright © 1994 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.