The Early Open-Range Cattle Ranching Industry in Nebraska: America's Greatest Farmer Plays a Role

Abstract:David Rankin of Tarkio, Missouri, was once referred to as America's greatest farmer. At the time of his death in 1910, Rankin's accomplishments were widely sensationalized in several national publications across the country. Yet little was reported, at the time or since, relating to Rankin's activities in Nebraska's Sandhills in the 1870s and 1880s which had played an integral part in his early operation. This project examines key issues surrounding Rankin's Bar 7 Ranch and chronicles the role these events played in opening the Sandhills to early ranching activities. Issues included extinguishing Native American title to the land, illegally fencing the public domain and the advancing settlement frontier, and dealing with the dreaded Texas fever that plagued herds across the Great Plains in the late 1800s. Rankin's story, even though it covers only a brief period, provides an example of the demise of open-range ranching in Nebraska. Ultimately, Rankin played a central role in some of the great cattle drives and roundups of the 1870s and 1880s, which are "among the best known and most romantic of American frontier icons."