Cattle King of the Plains

John Wesley Iliff was an early cattle king.  After three years of college in Ohio, John refused his father's offer of $7500 worth of land on the family farm and accepted $500 in cash instead.  In 1857, he headed for Kansas.  He moved to Denver in 1859 during the gold rush and opened a store with two partners.  In 1862 he brought a small herd of longhorns and established a ranch on the South Platte River in northeast Colorado.  He bought cattle in Indian Territory and drove herds to New Mexico to supply the army posts.  In 1868 he trailed a herd to Wyoming to feed men building the Union Pacific Railroad.

John rode with his men, shared their hardship and paid good wages, but he opposed drinking.  "Cows and whiskey don't mix," he said.  He did not carry a gun, but he was always ready to settle an argument with his fists.

When Iliff died at the age of 46, his obituary called him "the cattle king of the Plains and the most successful of all cattle merchants of the West."

More Cowboy Lingo:
Idaho brain storm:  tornado
Kack: saddle
Kack biscuit:  saddle sore
Maniac den:  a sheep wagon or camp
Maverick:  unbranded animal
Necktie social: a hanging
Tasting gravel:  thrown from a horse
Walking whiskey:  drunkard

Next time...The Long Drive
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On June 25, 1876,  On this day in 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River.