![]() ![]() Richard King and Mifflin Kennedy, owners of two of the most prominent ranches in south Texas were familiar with haciendas, or latifundios that existed in Mexico. By 1860, Anglo-American ranchers had taken over the cattle industry in Central Texas and had turned it into a grand-sized industry (Jordan, The Origin of the Anglo-American Cattle Ranching, 84).īy 1860, Anglo ranches had shifted westward into areas of Tejano ranching (Jordan, 84). This coincided with the expansion of Anglo ranchers westward into areas of Tejano settlement. After 1850, the Mexican vaquero was the most typical laborer. It came to be managed by "Anglo-American capitalists intent on using the labor of Mexicanos" (De León, 50). After 1850 Anglos came to dominate the cattle industry in the area of Tejano settlement as well. Slave labor was the primary source of labor on these Anglo ranches. Many Anglos felt that Mexicans benefited from their presence and felt little qualms about taking their property through violent or coercive means (Acuña, 27).ĭuring the first half of the nineteenth century, Tejano ranchos prospered throughout the Lower Border and up into Central Texas, while Anglos developed large ranch holdings in the Coastal Plains of Texas (Jordan, 83). San Antonio in Central Texas was another well-developed trading town with the largest Mexican population of any Texas town. ![]() merchants ran Mexican merchants out of the Lower Valley. Due to the unregulated nature of the trade at this point, there was always some sort of movement across the border area. By 1850 Brownsville, right across the border from Matamoros, had developed as a trading center, which subsequently drew the interest of Anglo-Americans (Acuña, 28). During this time, some trade did develop between the lower valley in Texas and New Orleans (Everett 24). Tejanos were entrenched in a rural society, while Anglos dominated the towns (De León, 50). Economic life in the Lower valley was based on agriculture, of which the cattle industry was a substantial part. Before 1848, the Valley of the Río Grande was home to thousands of cattle (Acuña, 27). Ranchers in the area were too preoccupied with war to instigate large round-ups or settlements, and cattle were left to prosper on the open plain. The Texas-Mexico War of 1836 led to an increase in number of wild cattle. Austin and a group of settlers came to Texas, and would create the market for what would become a mammoth cattle industry (Acuña, 7). This conflict in the Lower Border has, in large part, dictated the growth and success of the cattle industry in Texas. The people who occupied this disputed territory had been exposed to a long tradition of intercultural conflict. Their settlement marked the beginning of a livestock trade in Texas that has persisted until today. Between 17, large numbers of settlers received land grants from Spain and, later, Mexico in this territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River (Alonzo 3). Eventually permanent Mexican settlements would be established in territory that Mexico would be forced to hand over to the United States after the Mexican-American War. By 1748 ranches had been settled along the Rio Grande River as a line of defense against Indian attack. Ranching, farming and trading of livestock became the primary economic activity in the area due to lack of other valuable resources such as silver, or other mining industries (Alonzo,74). Around the turn of the 18th century the industry began establishing itself in the form of ranches in Mexico, New Mexico and Texas. Missions were the first institution to encourage the livestock industry in northern Mexico, where local indigenous people were encouraged to raise domestic animals (Alonzo, 74). The wide, open grazing land in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States was ideal for the large scale grazing and proliferation of the population of cattle, horses, sheep, mules and goats. These cattle, a combination of three different breeds of Spanish cattle would become the famed longhorns, which spread through the coastal plains of Texas (Monday, III). The herds eventually spread northwards into present-day United States (Alonzo, 74). The first cattle were brought to the new world by Gregorio de Billalobos along the Panuco River in 1521 six months before Cortez captured Mexico City. The foundation for the ranching industry in Texas sprang from the large number of cattle that existed in northern Mexico, roaming the open range. ![]() Origin and Growth of the Ranching Industry Picture taken from In the Days of the Vaquero (Freedman, 49). ![]()
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