Item Detail
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30536
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2
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0
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English
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Longhorns Come to Utah
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Utah Historical Quarterly
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Spring 1962
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30
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2
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Salt Lake City, UT
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Utah State Historical Society
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134-147
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"For nearly a quarter of a century, although cattle had been coming to Utah, cattle had been going out of Utah too, in numbers large enough to make Utah economically important as a supplier of western markets. The heavy influx of Texas cattle thus represented significant changes in the economic pattern of the American West. Old stocks had become depleted. New markets, particularly mining camps, had developed. The cattle-producing pressure of older areas, particularly Texas, had broken the confinement imposed by the Civil War. A new equilibrium was rapidly developing, with economic forces marked by moving men and cattle.
The beginning of Utah's cattle industry had been the 2,213 oxen and 887 cows which arrived with the first company in 1847. Economically shrewd, the Mormon leaders knew the necessity of cattle for both food and pulling power. In instructions sent back to those who would follow, they advised the gathering of 'young stock by the way, which is much needed here, and will be ready sale... . In a year or two .. . young cattle will grow into teams.'" [Author]