Cattle Barons and Ink Stingers: How Cow Country Journalists Created a Great American Myth

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the press at the end of the Old West Long Drive Era (1867–1890). It considers not only the influence of Wyoming cattlemen on the press, but in particular the influence of the press on the frontier cattle business during the period when “Old West” was moving from frontier reality to American legend. Many historians agree that the dominant Old West myth of “cattle barons” versus “nesters” emanated from a particular episode in Wyoming, the “Johnson County War.” The story grew to become one of America's most enduring legends, based on stylized ideals and assumptions that often had little to do with the reality of the frontier cattle business itself. The author relies on mostly primary sources in an attempt to show that this legend was actually created by journalists of the era, who were writing for more immediate audiences and more political goals.