Financial History Issue 133 (Spring 2020) | Page 9
EDUCATORS’ PERSPECTIVE
Wild West Finance: The Johnson
County Range War (Part 1)
By Brian Grinder and Dan Cooper
The open range of the American West
offered opportunities to thousands of indi-
viduals rich and poor. Cattle offered a risk-
free way to earn untold riches, if the uncle
of World War I flying ace Manfred Baron
von Richthofen (the Red Baron) was to be
believed. Uncle Walter never engaged in cat-
tle ranching himself, but he was not alone in
his high praise for raising cattle on the open
range. Ian McDonald, a highly respected
journalist for the Edinburgh newspaper The
Scotsman, toured the American West in
1877 1 and reported back to his fellow Scots:
That stock-raising in Texas has been,
and is, a profitable line of business
there can be no doubt. Almost every-
one who has entered into it with even
a fair amount of care and earnestness,
and had any knowledge of the work,
has made money; while a great many
have raised themselves from the hum-
ble position of a herd-boy to the pos-
session of great wealth. A gentleman
who had been engaged in the stock-
trade for many years in the south of
Texas assured me that, though he had
seen a few reckless Americans go to
the wall at cattle-raising, he had never
known a Scotchman or an Irishman to
fail; “they all make money.” The same
gentleman gave it as his opinion that,
at the present day, capital invested
in cattle-raising in Texas was paying
more than 25% per annum.
Many others promoted cattle raising in
much the same way. Johnson County Range
War chronicler Helen Huntington Smith
believed that, “None of the authors was a
soulless promoter out to fleece the unwary;
none was even trying to float a cattle com-
pany. They were simply honest boosters car-
ried away by the euphoria of the great West.”
Scottish 2 and English investors, along
with East Coast capitalists, soon flooded
the West with cattle companies. The Prai-
rie Cattle Company, the Swan Land and
“There is not the slightest element of uncertainty in cattle-raising…
Since it was very well known that the cattle business is very safe, and
that the larger the capital therein the greater the ratio of profit, as
expenses do not increase at the same rate with the capital, the cattle-
raiser has found no difficulty borrowing an amount of money equal to
his investment; and, though he might pay from 10 to 15% per annum
for the use of it, yet he might expect to realize there from 25 to 35%.”
— Walter Baron von Richthofen, 1885
Cattle Company, and the Frontier Land
and Cattle Company, among others, were
soon operating in Wyoming Territory.
Moreton Frewen, Winston Churchill’s
uncle by marriage, became the first big-
time rancher to run cattle in Johnson
County, Wyoming, when he bought the
76 Ranch on Powder River in 1879. Frewen
built a large log cabin on his ranch, which
was dubbed “Frewen’s Castle” by the
locals. According to Frewen, he could
easily entertain 20 people at his Wyoming
lodge. A veritable who’s who of British
nobility found its way to the “Castle.”
Frewen’s Powder River Cattle Company,
Ltd. was backed by enthusiastic English
investors. Smith writes, “In 1882 Frewen,
then 29, went to London and with a flick
of a wrist raised a million and a half dollars
to extend his holdings on Powder River.”
Unbeknown to Frewen, cattle prices would
peak in 1882 and never recover.
John Clay, manager of the Swan Land
and Cattle Company and president of
the Wyoming Stock Growers Associa-
tion (WSGA) during the Range War,
wrote, “The years 1882, 1883 and 1884 were
remarkably successful ones in the western
cattle business. The climatic conditions
were excellent, prices were good and every
condition was favorable for a company to
make a good showing.” He also noted that
the dividend his company paid in 1883
of 20.5% “…made a great sensation and
carried a lot of people off their feet.” They
would soon come crashing down to Earth
when Wyoming showed its harsh side.
The WSGA would play an integral part in
the Range War. Organized by the large cat-
tle ranchers in southeastern Wyoming, the
WSGA handled the spring and fall round-
ups when cattle were brought in from the
open range. The Association also employed
range detectives, such as Frank Canton in
Johnson County, who were responsible for
apprehending cattle rustlers.
In the spring, calves were branded and
the ownership of mavericks determined. A
maverick was an unbranded calf that had
been born and weaned out on the open
range and was no longer with its mother.
The unwritten law of the range was that
the first person to locate a maverick and
brand it became the owner of said calf.
This wasn’t a problem in good times even
if rustlers took advantage of the system,
but when times were tough, the WSGA,
which only represented the large ranchers,
used its political influence to pass legisla-
tion giving the WSGA sole authority to
deal with Wyoming mavericks.
During the spring roundup, all maver-
icks were branded with an “M” and sold
at auction to the highest bidder. Accord-
ing to historian Bill O’Neal, only WSGA
members “with at least $500 on deposit in
a Wyoming bank” could bid. This left small
ranchers out in the cold. Under this law,
they were unable to recover their own mav-
ericks even if they could prove ownership.
During the roundups, cowboys who
worked for WSGA ranches were undis-
criminating when it came to mavericks.
Although mavericks were free to wander,
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