About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity Press of Kansas

ISBN-100700631569

ISBN-139780700631568

eBay Product ID (ePID)25050412878

Product Key Features

Book TitleCattle Guard : Its History and Lore

Number of Pages254 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2021

TopicUnited States / 20th Century, Industries / Agribusiness, Sociology / Rural

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science, Business & Economics, History

AuthorJames F. Hoy

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight12.3 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Dewey Edition23

TitleLeadingThe

Reviews"A well written, carefully researched study of a facet of the West that has not been as successfully treated previously."-- Journal of the West "Hoy has provided a broad history of the development of the cattle guard and its effect on rural life in the Great Plains."-- Great Plains Quarterly "Hoy has written a readable book on a previously neglected topic of agricultural/plains history. The definitive work on this subject."-- Nebraska History "Hoy tells the story in meticulous detail, with style and rural humor."-- Arizona Highways "This well-written volume reflects both the author's extensive research conducted in the United States and England and personal fascination with the topic."-- Arizona and the West

Dewey Decimal636.201

Table Of ContentList of Illustrations Foreword Preface to Kansas Open Books Edition Preface 1. The Cattle Guard: An Overview 2. The Need for Cattle Guards 3. Cattle-Guard Innovators, 1900 to 1920 4. The Spread of Cattle Guards, 1920-1930 5. The Railroad Cattle Guard 6. Cornish Stiles, Lich Gates, and Cattle Guards 7. Lore about Cattle Guards 8. Unusual Cattle Guards 9. Makers of Cattle Guards 10. The Economics of Cattle Guards 11. Cattle Guards around the World Appendix Cattle-guard Questionnaire Sent to Prospective Informants Letter of Inquiry Sent to Newspapers and Journals The First Cattle -Guard Patent, Granted to Thomas J. West, Whitehall, Virginia, 11 March 1837 University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service Plans Sources of Information List of Contributors of Information Index

SynopsisWith this study the cattle guard joins the sod house, the windmill, and barbed wire as a symbol of range country on the American Great Plains. A U.S. folk innovation now in use throughout the world, the cattle guard functions as both a gate and a fence: it keeps livestock from crossing, but allows automobiles and people to cross freely. The author blends traditional history and folklore to trace the origins of the cattle guard and to describe how, in true folk fashion, the device in its simplest form--wooden poles or logs spaced in parallel fashion over a pit in the roadway--was reinvented and adapted throughout livestock country. Hoy traces the origins of the cattle guard to flat stone stiles unique to Cornwall, England, then through the railroad cattle guard, in use in this country as early as 1836, and finally to the Great Plains where, probably in 1905, the first ones appeared on roads. He describes regional variations in cattle guards and details unusual types. He provides information on cattle-guard makers, who range from local blacksmiths and welders to farmers and ranchers to large manufacturers. In addition to documenting the economic and cultural significance of the cattle guard, this volume reveals much about early twentieth-century farm and ranch life. It will be of interest not only to folklorists and historians of agriculture and Western America, but also to many Plains-area farmers, ranchers, and oilmen.