Changes

'''Cattle drives''' involved cowboys on horseback moving  herds of cattle long distances to market. It was a major economic activity in the [[American frontier|frontier stage]] of the American southwest, especially 1866-95, when 10 million cattle were herded from Texas to railheads in Kansas for shipments to stockyards in Chicago and points east. Because of extensive treatment in fiction and film the cowboy became the worldwide iconic image of the American.

A '''Cattle drive''' involved cowboys on horseback moving  herds of cattle long distances, usually to market. It was a major economic activity in the [[American frontier|frontier stage]] of the American southwest, especially 1866-95, when 10 million cattle were herded from Texas to railheads in Kansas for shipments to stockyards in Chicago and points east. Because of extensive treatment in fiction and film the cowboy became the worldwide iconic image of the American.

[[Image:COWBOY1902.JPG|thumb|300px|American cattle drive in 1902]]

[[Image:COWBOY1902.JPG|thumb|300px|American cattle drive in 1902]]

==Origins==

==Origins==

Europe had few cattle drives but the Swiss in the 16th century operated one over the St. Gotthard pass to the markets in Bellinzona and Lugano and into Lombardy in northern Italy.  The drives ended by 1700 when sedentary dairy farming proved more profitable.

Europe had few cattle drives but the Swiss in the 16th century operated one over the St. Gotthard pass to the markets in Bellinzona and Lugano and into Lombardy in northern Italy.  The drives ended by 1700 when sedentary dairy farming proved more profitable.