By federal law, anyone who misuses public land can be prosecuted. This includes grazing livestock on public land and erecting fences that prevent access for the general public. The first federal law to protect public land was passed in 1885.
Cattle barons took advantage of their access to federal land. “Cattle baron” is a term for landowners who exercised political influence because of their large ranches with vast herds of cattle. In the mid-1800s, growing cities needed food. This led to the rise of the cattle barons. The term was sometimes a compliment and sometimes an insult.
The best-known cattle baron in North Dakota was Teddy Roosevelt. He had large herds at his Maltese Cross and Elkhorn ranches. Teddy’s neighbor, the Marquis de Mores, was also considered a cattle baron. There was a great demand for western beef in the coastal cities, and huge fortunes were to be made.
With their political power and financial resources, the cattle barons often became a law unto themselves. It was not unusual for them to use unoccupied land to graze their herds, even if it was federal land. But after the railroad arrived, cattle no longer had to be herded to stockyards, which made it practical fence land with barbed wire. Some cattle barons fenced off land that was supposed to be off-limits. In 1885, Congress passed a law to prevent unauthorized use of public lands. President Cleveland issued a proclamation that called for every unlawful inclosure of public lands “be immediately removed.” He noted that it was now unlawful to prevent anyone from entering public lands.
But the new law did not stop the cattle barons. They continued to fence public land. On this date in 1907, the Secretary of the Interior sent out instructions to department agents. The Secretary told the agents to publicize rigid enforcement of the 1885 law. The Bismarck Tribune noted that there were a large number of unlawful inclosures in western North Dakota, and “it is likely there will be a speedy pulling of posts and reeling of fence wire.”
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher.
Sources:
- Bismarck Tribune. “Unlawful Inclosusres.” Bismarck ND. 1/12/1907. Page 4.
- Bismarck Tribune. “A President With Backbone.” Bismarck ND. 8/14/1885. Page 7
- Kyle Tusler. “The Cattle Barons’ Rise and Fall: A History of Western Cattle Ranching in the Mountains and on the Plains from 1865 Until the End of the Cattle Barons.” Senior Thesis, Rocky Mountain College. 2013.
- National Park Service. “Cattle Barons.” https://www.nps.gov/grko/learn/historyculture/cattlebarons.htm Accessed 12/3/2023.
- Ross F. Collins. “From Reality to Rodeos: Dakota Cowtown Newspapers and the Cowboy Myth, 1877-1886.” https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rcollins/cowboys/ Accessed 12/3/2023.
- U.S. Code. “Forty-Eighth Congress.” https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=23&page=322 Accessed 12/3/2023.
