The Mexican vaqueros originally developed the open range system of raising livestock.

Who created open range?

Established by Thomas O’Connor (1819-1887), began expansion in 1873 to 500,000 acres with 100,000 cattle. Was one of the first ranches to use barbed wire.

What was the open range system?

The essence of open range was the free grazing of cattle on millions of unfenced acres of public land. It was possible to become wealthy raising cattle without owning any acreage. Although most ranchers owned a base operation, some owned millions of acres. America’s open range started with the Civil War [1861-1865].