barbed wire
Cattle trails disappeared mostly because of the sudden onslaught of people moving to the West, and a sudden drop in the value of cattle because of all the people coming to herd them, which caused the growth of plotting land and farming in the West.Read more: What_happened_to_the_cattle_trails_due_to_the_railroads
One reason for the end of the western cattle bonanza was--overgrazing of the plains. (NovaNet)
Chicago Great Western Railroad ended in 1941.
Cattle drives haven't ended, they still happen around the world, a lot more frequently than you think, actually. But back in the late 1800's in the USA and Canada the implementation of barbed wire fences, increasing population of settlers taking over land that could be or would otherwise be used to graze and raise cattle on, the railroad, the invention of the car (which turned into manufacturing large trucks to transport livestock in) and the Great Winter of 1885-86 where thousands of cattle died of starvation all came together to bring the great, one-hundred-mile-plus cattle drives from the home range to the stockyards to an end. It was no longer needed, wasn't feasible, and easier and easier methods were created to transport, rather than herd, cattle from one place to another.
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barbed wire
at the end of the cattle drive, the cowboys rest and drink and fight
Go to the saloon for a few drinks, then head on back home after all the cattle had been sold.
The first railroads built in Texas were used to transport cattle from the open range to the Chicago markets. With their completion the age of cattle drives and cowboys came to an end.
The completion of the railroad and the increased use of barbed wire to fence off farming/ranching properties.
Those were jobs that were available. There was lots of demand back east in restaurants for beef, the cattle were raised out west far from the few western railroads, so it was necessary to hire cowboys to drive the cattle all the way from the range to the railroad. Within about 10 years the railroads expanded and went directly to where the cattle were raised and the age of cowboys and long cattle drives came to an end. The cowboys lost their jobs.
Cattle drive came to an end because of the invention of the barbed wire and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Thousands of cattle also perished due to an outbreak of Texas Fever and the Great Winter of 1887-88, which also contributed to the end of the famous cattle drives of the Old West.
Cattle drives soon ended in the late 1800's to the early 1900's because of fierce winter storms, barbed wire, drought, overgrazing, and the near extinction of the population of Longhorns originating from Spain and developed in the wilds of southwestern America.
Montana Railroad ended in 1910.
Gettysburg Railroad ended in 1870.
Tonawanda Railroad ended in 1850.