Gain valuable insights into the unparalleled history of the Western Cattle Trail from Michael Grauer, a renowned expert in cowboy culture and the curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the McCasland Chair. His recount of the narrative of this remarkable chapter in American history will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the Western Trail. In this Brown Bag presentation, you will delve into the fascinating history of The Western Trail, a critical cattle route operational from 1874 to 1897. This historical phenomenon facilitated the transportation of an estimated six to eight million cattle across a vast network of roads, pivotal in establishing renowned ranches in the northern Great Plains region.
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Brad Smalley is a fourth-generation Dodge City, Kansas, resident. After receiving his degree in history from Fort Hays University, he dedicated his life to the noble cause of preserving Western history. He was raised on his parents and grandparents' stories of the old-timers who still walked the streets during their lifetimes. Brad's personal connection to these stories and the history they represent gives his work a deep sense of nostalgia. Brad has several years of experience in local and statewide tourism and has played a significant role in researching and producing several books on Western history and lore. Recently, he was featured in the Emmy-nominated second season of 'Gunslingers' on the American Heroes Channel. Brad is the narrator for the Wild West podcast, which is now in the top 2% of podcasts worldwide in over 12,107 cities and 150 countries and territories. Brad lives south of Dodge on the edge of the Western Cattle Trail, where ruts from the cattle drives can still be seen from his front porch.
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James N. Leiker, a professor of history and chair of the history and political science department at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, is deeply committed to his students. He teaches the United States History Survey courses, African American Studies, and the American West, always striving to inspire and educate. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Western History, including Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio Grande (Texas A & M Press, 2002) and The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory (Oklahoma, 2011), a Kansas Notable Book and winner of the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize. In 2009, James N. Leiker demonstrated his commitment to academic development by founding JCCC’s Kansas Studies Institute, a five-year program he directed.
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James N. Leiker and Ramon Powers, in their work "The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory," explore how this event has been remembered and retold, analyzing the recollections of Indians, settlers, and their descendants, as well as examining local history, mass-media representations, and literature. They draw thought-provoking conclusions about the evolving nature of this story over time.
The Cheyennes' journey has often been described using melodramatic stereotypes, with the most recent versions depicting "noble savages" attempting to reclaim their birthright. However, Leiker and Powers deconstruct and surpass these stereotypes, emphasizing that history is a complex tapestry of narratives, never simple. They point out that the Cheyennes' flight left both white and Indian bones scattered along its route from Oklahoma to Montana. According to them, the descendants of the Cheyennes and the settlers they encountered are all Westerners who require a nuanced understanding of history to make sense of the bones and arrowheads scattered across the plains. |
Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, in 1967, started their mission to uncover the historical significance of the Western Cattle Trail, a vital artery in the history of the American West. Their research, supported by detailed maps, resulted in two books documenting the location of the most extensive cattle trail system out of Texas from 1874 to 1897. Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, in 1967, started their mission to uncover the historical significance of the Western Cattle Trail, a vital artery in the history of the American West. Their research, supported by detailed maps, resulted in two books documenting the location of the most extensive cattle trail system out of Texas from 1874 to 1897. Their second book, published in 2015, The Western Cattle Trail, 1874-1897, Its Rise, Collapse, and Revival, presented the cattle system, with its numerous feeder and splinter routes, from south Texas to Canada, involving nine states. This book was honored with the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Wrangler Award for Best Nonfiction in 2016 and the Six Shooter’s Award from the Wild West History Association for Best Book in 2016.
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Michael Miller, an expert on the XIT Ranch, the Capitol Syndicate, and the American cattle industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century will present his research topic, "The Last Cattle Drive." Contrary to the widely held notion of the demise of the cattle trail around 1885, many Texas and Southwestern cattle operations continued to trail thousands of cattle to northern ranges in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, and even Canada well into the 1890s. The Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company, owner of the famous XIT Ranch, contracted to drive their first cattle into the region in 1889. The company undertook its own trailing operation in 1890, first shipping nearly 10,000 cattle to Wendover, Wyoming and then driving the beeves, nearly all two-year-old steers, onto range the company acquired in Montana.
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Michael M. Miller, author of XIT: A Story of Land, Cattle, and Capital in Texas and Montana (University of Oklahoma Press, 2020), is an expert on the business and politics of the Gilded Age cattle business. Focusing on the huge Texas Panhandle operation, his book comprehensively explores the evolution of “open range” operations and a fading trail industry toward a more modern, slimmer, and scientific approach to stock raising. His dissertation at the University of North Texas, focused on construction of the Texas statehouse and its payoff to the Illinois capitalists that built the magnificent structure – three million Panhandle acres. His 2015 article in Montana The Magazine of Western History on the ranch’s operation in Montana, “Cowboys and Capitalists,” won the 2016 Spur Award for Best Western Short Nonfiction from the Western Writers of America, Inc. His reviews of ranching-related books have appeared in several academic publications. Currently, Miller shares his knowledge and enthusiasm teaching history at colleges and universities around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Miller supports the Western History Association, the Montana Historical Society, and the Texas historical community.
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