In the mid-1860s, the land around here was part of a vast open range where cattle grazed freely on unfenced public land stretching from Mexico to Canada. Beef from these open range cattle fed a growing population, including factory workers in the East and miners in the West. Open range ranching boomed until the 1890s, when homesteads and barbed wire began dividing the range. A few years of drought, overgrazing, and the Hard Winter of 1886-87 devastated herds. As ranchers recognized the need for modern practices such as irrigating and haying, open range ranching faded and fenced ranching took its place, continuing to feed America and shape its culture.