John Illif

• John Illif


  One of the first ranchers to keep cattle on the Great Plains
• After failing to get lucky in the Gold Rush, Illif bought a cheap herd of cattle for just $500
• The cattle Illif had purchased were exhausted from a long drive and had grown weak and thin
• Illif realised that

  Cattle could survive winter on the Great Plains
• What Illif did

  Began to fatten up his herd on the Plains grasslands
• Illif went on to make a fortune selling cattle to railroad workers, gold miners in Denver City (Colorado), and to the US government to supply Plains Indians in reservations
• Illif expanded his original herd to over 35,000 cattle by purchasing livestock from Charles Goodnight
• What is most significant about John Illif


  • He raised his herd on the Great Plains, instead of raising them in Texas and then driving them to the northern markets
  • This eliminated the need for the long drive, in which cattle lost weight and thus value
  • It marked the start of ranching on the open range
• This was a new phase of the cattle industry