the "great die up"....

[linnettejane]

channel 271....history international channel...interesting show on right now about the "great die up"....over 100,000 head of cattle lost to winter conditions in the the late 1800's....

 

[hamburgman]

I think I remember from history class a big part of that was drought and overgrazing, or am I wrong?

 

[linnettejane]

may have been...i just got the tail end of it...there was a real bad snow storm that went thru...over 5 feet of snow...the cowboys couldnt get to the cattle to cut the fences to let them out to get to shelter and water and all the cattle starved and died...they showed some pretty gruesome pics...

 

[Hofstatter Farms]

thank god we have some of the modern equipment that we do. would feel terrible if my cows died because i couldnt get to them.

 

[aj]

I know there was a "blizzard of Jan 12, 1888. There was actually an organization in Nebraska called the Blizzard club. It was mainly a homesteader type bunch. 1,000 people died in the storm and it was a long spring.  Eastern Colorado then called Kansas territority was completely wiped out. Alot of big cattle companies went under as this was new stuff and they didn't know cattle would even need hay in inclement weather. There is a book called "in all its Fury,great bliazzard 1888" by W.H. O'gara telling of the Nebraska's area hardships. There were alot of homesteaders during this timeframe that were caught in the middle of the Jan storm. Alot of kids stranded in country schools and what not. I believe New York city was hit the same year in March in a different storm. There were alot of ranch cattle drifted into creeks and whatnot. I know hell creek in eastern Colorado was named because of cattle drifting into it and dying,not sure the same blizzard though.