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 /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...
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 opera ...
. 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 stations. A similar phenomenon occurred in part of Canada in the early twentieth century.
]
Notable examples
''In the American Old West:''
* 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 y ...
. 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 (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
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 species; as well as the ...
J. Frank Dobie said that Goodnight "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history."Calgary Stampede
The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, fair, 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 a ...
, 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 vaqu ...
)
** George Lane, rancher
** A. E. Cross, rancher Bar U Ranch
** Patrick Burns
** Archibald J. McLean
''In England:''
* Jonathan Wall (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", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...
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 film ...
'' (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.
See also
* Cattle Baron's Ball, a Dallas, Texas fundraising event
* Wyoming Stock Growers Association
* Aztec Land & Cattle Company (1884–1902)
* Willamette Cattle Company
* Santa Fe Ring
* Empire Ranch
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattle Baron
Animal husbandry occupations
American frontier
American cattlemen
American ranchers