Rise and Fall of the Ranching Kingdom: A Study on the Development of Open Ranges in the American West

Author: Zhou Gang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Professor Zhou Gang has dedicated over a decade to researching the development history of the American open-range livestock industry, accumulating extensive knowledge and materials. Through meticulous thinking, he has written a substantial and well-researched monograph titled The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom: A Study on the Development of the American Open-Range Livestock Industry, which I was honored to review. Although I have spent considerable time studying American history, my knowledge in this specific area is limited. It was challenging to accept this task, but I approached it with a sincere desire to learn and thoroughly reviewed the manuscript to share my insights. Below are some key features of the book that I found particularly noteworthy.
1. Filling a significant gap in Chinese American history research. Over the past two decades since the reform and opening-up, China's American history research has made considerable progress. In addition to monographs on general and thematic histories, numerous specialized works have been published. However, no monographs have been devoted to the history of the "livestock kingdom" in America or the development of the open-range livestock industry in the West. According to An Index of Chinese American Studies Papers (1979-1989), edited by Yang Yusheng and Hu Yukun (Liaoning University Press, 1990), no specialized papers on this topic were published before 1990. To date, among the few general American history works published in China, Huang Shaoyang's A Concise History of the United States (Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 1953) and A Brief History of American History (Beijing: People's Press, 1979) do not address this topic. A New History of the United States (Renmin University of China Press, 1990) by Yang Shengmao and Lu Jingsheng, and A General Outline of American History: From Colony to Superpower (East China Normal University Press, 1992) by Yu Zhisen, mention only the "cattle kingdom" but not the "sheep empire" or the horse industry. A General Outline of American History, edited by Gu Xuejia et al. (Sichuan University Press, 1992), covers both the "cattle kingdom" and "sheep empire" but only briefly, without addressing the horse industry. The third volume of the six-volume A General History of the United States, edited by Liu Xuyi and Yang Shengmao (People's Press, 2002), includes a section on the "cattle kingdom" but primarily focuses on it, with only passing mentions of the "sheep empire" and the horse industry. The neglect of the history of the "livestock kingdom" in Chinese American history research is not because it holds little significance in American historiography. On the contrary, according to Professor Zhou Gang's research, the "livestock kingdom" left a glorious chapter in American history, despite its brief golden period of only about 20 years from the post-Civil War era to the mid-1880s. During this time, the development of Western American livestock surpassed the previous 300 years and reached its peak. It fully utilized the abundant grassland resources of the Great Plains, once considered the "American desert," transforming roaming wild longhorns and continuously degenerating Churro sheep into valuable livestock resources for the West. It attracted substantial capital from the East and Europe, combining traditional, primitive production methods in Western cattle and sheep farming with monopolistic capital, rapidly improving productivity. It supplied large numbers of horses and meat to mining camps and railroad construction sites, becoming a key client of railroad companies and strongly supporting the development of Western mining and railroads. It spurred the rise and growth of cattle towns, which gradually became economic, political, and cultural centers of the pastoral regions, forming a unique urbanization model in the West. It accelerated the westward shift of American meat processing and wool manufacturing industries, ultimately making the West a major livestock production base in the U.S. It gradually merged with the Western mining and agricultural frontiers, causing the retreat of the "free land" region and rapidly Americanizing its "simple primitive society," transforming it into territories or states that joined the Union, thereby expanding and strengthening the U.S. federal system. The establishment of organizations such as the "Cowboys Association," "Wool Producers Association," and "Livestock Raisers Association" in each pastoral region reflected the spirit of frontier democracy and developed the tradition of American self-governance. During its social formation, the characteristics of the American national character—such as "pragmatism and," "mobility," and "determination"—were sustained and developed. Of course, the rise and development of the "livestock kingdom" also contributed to the U.S. government's genocidal policies against Native Americans, fueled the ruthless rule of monopolistic capitalism, strengthened American expansionism, led to grassland desertification, and caused the devastating dust storms that affected the entire U.S. in the 1930s. In summary, the rise and development of the "livestock kingdom" had a comprehensive and profound impact on American history. Therefore, the development of the livestock industry in the American West has long been a significant topic of research for many American scholars. For over a century, the "livestock kingdom" has sparked strong interest among American historians and has become a major theme in their works, forming a distinctive historiography of the "livestock kingdom." The history of livestock has occupied an important position in American historiography. (From the Preface of The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom, p. 4) It is evident that leaving this gap in Chinese American history research is regrettable. However, Professor Zhou Gang's The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom not only fills this gap but does so in a significant way.
2. Bringing research on the "livestock kingdom" closer to reality. The renowned American historian Charles A. Beard (1874-1945) once said, "No historian can depict the past exactly as it was. Every historian's work—his selection, emphasis, omission, organization, and presentation of facts—is shaped by his own personality and the era and environment in which he lives." He also added, "All historical interpretations are relative to time and place and are bound to disappear as the environment—ideas and interests—that gave rise to them fade." (Both quotes are adapted from Wu Jianrong's master's thesis, An Exploration of Charles A. Beard's Economic Historiography, Wuhan University History Department, 1990, p. 40) We do not agree with this relativistic historical view that denies the truth. While the understanding and interpretation of history by historians may be influenced by their personal thoughts and the environment they are in, limiting their correct perception of historical reality, it does not mean that the interpretations of all serious historians lose their value as circumstances change. History has its objective reality and development patterns, and it can be understood. However, the factors constituting historical reality are complex and diverse. Historians can only fully grasp these factors and distinguish their primary and secondary roles through long-term, arduous, and in-depth research. The objective development patterns of history are embedded within the growth process of historical reality. Historians must explore and study the complex internal relationships among the factors that constitute historical reality through long-term, arduous, and in-depth research to uncover these patterns. Therefore, the foundation of a historian's research on historical reality and its development patterns determines how close their interpretation is to the actual historical reality. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a historian to make their interpretation perfectly match historical reality. However, historians can strive to bring their interpretations closer to reality through their efforts. If a historian can make their interpretation even closer to historical reality based on the achievements of previous research, they have made a contribution to the field of history. After reading The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom, I believe Professor Zhou Gang has made such a contribution. Why? Although we are not fully aware of the global research on the history of the "livestock kingdom" outside the U.S., it is certain that even the Soviet Union, which had significant achievements in American history research, had not published a monograph on this topic. It can be confidently said that Americans have been at the forefront of researching their own "livestock kingdom" history worldwide. Professor Zhou Gang, through years of research and exploration, has an almost comprehensive understanding of the history and literature of the American "livestock kingdom" since the 1870s. Not only does he meticulously introduce the main achievements of American historiography on the "livestock kingdom" in the Preface of his book, but his extensive footnotes reveal that he has referenced approximately 230 American books and 66 papers on the "livestock kingdom," as well as several Chinese translations of American works. Therefore, we can say that The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom by Professor Zhou Gang incorporates the fundamental and major achievements of American historiography on the "livestock kingdom." Moreover, he has not only built upon this foundation but also identified its shortcomings and supplemented them in his work. For example, Zhou argues that there are few comprehensive studies on American Western cattle farming and even fewer works on the entire Western livestock industry (including sheep and horse farming). He also points out that the negative impacts of Western pastoral development have been insufficiently addressed, with some scholars attributing the decline of open-range ranching primarily to natural disasters like blizzards, neglecting the destructive effects of exploitative development. Additionally, he notes a tendency in American historiography to "praise cowboys and criticize shepherds," with scholarly works on the true history of cowboys far outnumbering fictional portrayals of cowboys and cowboy culture. At the same time, Zhou emphasizes that future American historians should not only describe the process of pastoral development but also study the interconnectedness of various aspects during this process, i.e., its objective development patterns. (All the above quotes are from the Preface of The Rise and Fall of the Livestock Kingdom) Due to space constraints, we cannot detail the specific ways in which Zhou supplements these shortcomings in his book, but readers can find them there. In summary, we can conclude that Americans have been the most knowledgeable and thorough researchers of the "livestock kingdom" in the world, and Professor Zhou Gang, by addressing the gaps in American historiography, has brought his research even closer to the actual historical reality, making a contribution to the field of history.
3. Providing valuable insights for China's Western development. Professor Zhou Gang's research on the history of the American "livestock kingdom" initially focused on "writing a serious history of the livestock industry in the American West," rather than placing excessive emphasis on "insights for China's Western pastoral development." However, the author is a thoughtful researcher. To study this topic, he not only read materials on China's Western pastoral regions but also conducted a survey in the Hulunbuir pastoral area of Inner Mongolia during the summer of 2003. There, he visited farms and ranches, interviewed some pastoral families, and observed several grazing sites, gaining firsthand experience. As a result, he was able to draw on the lessons from the development process of the American open-range livestock industry to offer preliminary and reference-based suggestions for the development of pastoral industries as a crucial part of China's Western development.
First, the preferential land policies of the U.S. federal government facilitated the operation of large-scale livestock companies and ranches in the West, enabling them to continuously introduce high-quality cattle and sheep breeds for scientific breeding. Gradually, mechanization was achieved in meat and livestock product processing and transportation, leading the Western livestock industry toward modernization—replacing the crude, primitive nomadic methods with production based on capitalization, science, and machinery. Zhou argues that while China and the U.S. have vastly different land resources, the principle of using land policies to motivate producers can still be learned. Based on this, he believes that China's policy of allocating grasslands to pastoral households is commendable and that such policies can further stimulate pastoral enthusiasm and promote the modernization of Western pastoral industries.
Second, one of the key reasons for the rapid and prosperous development of Western American livestock after the Civil War was the influx of capital from the East and abroad. Zhou points out that to modernize China's Western livestock industry, capital is a critical issue. It is imperative to attract investment from China's developed eastern regions and foreign countries into Western pastoral industries. However, caution must be exercised to avoid the blindness and fanaticism that characterized the development of the American open-range industry. In other words, when attracting investment, China's Western pastoral regions must be both proactive and prudent, maintaining a scientific approach.
Third, the prosperity of the American "livestock kingdom" was deeply rooted in the convenient transportation provided by transcontinental railways and their branches. Zhou argues that improving the transportation conditions of China's Western pastoral regions has become an urgent task. Building roads should not solely rely on national investment. In addition to constructing branch lines of railway trunk lines to improve rail transportation, China's Western regions should also strengthen highway construction to form a road transportation network, thereby fundamentally improving the transportation conditions of Western pastoral areas.
Fourth, one of the main reasons for the rapid rise of the American "livestock kingdom" was the economic acumen and strong market awareness of its operators. From its inception, the "livestock kingdom" integrated pastoral regions with the U.S. capitalist market economy, bringing cattle and sheep farming into the modernization track of the U.S. Given this, Zhou argues that the current situation in China's Western pastoral regions, where small-scale farming accounts for a significant portion and large-scale, socially organized farms are still in the minority, ising the modernization of China's livestock industry. To ensure the rapid modernization of China's livestock industry and its stable, healthy, and sustainable development, it is necessary to shift from small-scale household farming to socialist market economy and from small-scale "household rearing" to large-scale, socially organized production, establishing modern ranches and livestock companies.
Fifth, the rapid decline of the American "livestock kingdom" was not primarily due to natural disasters or foreign competition but rather to the exploitative development of Western pastoral regions by American monopolistic capital, which took advantage of the government's laissez-faire policies at the time to practice "grazing to exhaustion," leading to rapid overgrazing and ecological imbalance. Zhou argues that China's Western pastoral regions should adopt modern scientific management methods, implement rotational grazing and separate grazing for cattle and sheep to maintain ecological balance, prevent grassland desertification, and avoid the passive "rely-on-nature" pastoralism that led to the devastating dust storms of the 1930s, bringing China's livestock industry into a virtuous cycle.
Sixth, one of the harsh lessons from the decline of the American "livestock kingdom" was that, from the post-Civil War era to the end of the 19th century, despite frequent severe natural disasters such as droughts, fires, locust plagues, dust storms, and blizzards in the Western pastoral regions, the "cattle kings" pursued excessive profits without investing in basic disaster prevention and mitigation infrastructure, relying solely on the and suffering catastrophic losses when faced with major disasters. Zhou points out that China's Western pastoral regions, still in a "rely-on-nature" state with small losses from minor disasters and large losses from major disasters, urgently need investment in basic infrastructure to improve living conditions for humans and livestock, enhance weather forecasting, protect pastoral vegetation, prohibit indiscriminate logging, plant high-quality grasses, and store more winter forage. By replacing traditional, primitive nomadic methods with modern scientific production methods, China's Western pastoral regions can fundamentally enhance their ability to adapt to and mitigate disasters. It is crucial not to blindly pursue profits at the expense of basic infrastructure.
While these are preliminary suggestions, I believe that as a historian, Professor Zhou Gang's effort to give historical research a practical significance is commendable.