Why did cattle owners have to

Question

buy private property on which to
keep their cattle?
They couldn’t graze their
cattle on Native American
reservations.
Cattle in open-range
herds got mixed together.
Farms and the railroads
carved up the open
range.
Diseases often wiped out
entire herds.

Answer 1

Cattle owners had to buy private property on which to keep their cattle primarily because farms and the railroads carved up the open range. During the expansion of agriculture and the railroad network in the late 19th century, much of the open land that had previously been available for grazing was increasingly taken up by private homesteads and railway lines. This fragmentation of the open range made it necessary for cattle owners to secure private land for their herds to prevent them from becoming mixed with other herds and to ensure they had a secure area for grazing.