CATTLE ASSOCIATIONS

CATTLE ASSOCIATIONS, organizations of cattlemen after 1865 on the western ranges. Local, district, sectional, and national in scope, they functioned on the edges of western Anglo-American settlement, much like miners' associations and squatters' claim clubs. The Colorado Cattle Growers' Association was formed as early as 1867. The Wyoming Stock Growers' Association was organized in 1873 and by 1886 had four hundred members from nineteen states. Its cattle, real estate, plants, and horses were valued in 1885 at $100 million. In 1884 the National Cattle and Horse Growers' Association was organized in St. Louis.

A president, secretary, treasurer, and executive committee administered each association's affairs and made reports at annual or semiannual meetings. Roundup districts were laid out, rules for strays or mavericks were adopted, and thousands of brands were recorded. Associations cooperated with local and state officials and urged favorable legislation by Congress.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dale, Edward Everett. The Range Cattle Industry: Ranching on the Great Plains from 1865 to 1925. New ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. The original edition was published in 1930.

Peake, Ora Brooks. The Colorado Range Cattle Industry. Glendale, Calif.: Clark, 1937.

Pelzer, Louis. The Cattlemen's Frontier: A Record of the Trans-Mississippi Cattle Industry from Oxen Trains to Pooling Companies, 1850–1890. Glendale, Calif.: Clark, 1936.