Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-198) and index.

"Great Plains Cattle Empire chronicles the establishment of the cattle industry in the western United States, spanning the years from the Civil War to World War II." "John and Mahlon Thatcher were two of the many pioneers looking to begin a new life in the great open spaces of the West. In the 1860s, the brothers began a small mercantile in the town of Pueblo, Colorado. From a small safe in the corner of their newly created mercantile, the two Thatcher brothers founded what was to become the First National Bank of Pueblo, Colorado - and the beginnings of a financial empire that would encompass the directing and financing of cattle companies from New Mexico to Canada." "Together with such legendary figures as Frank Bloom, Henry Cresswell, O. H. Perry Baxter, William Anderson, Burton Mossman, and Mahlon T. Everhart, they created a cattle empire - financing and directing the Bloom Land and Cattle Company, Diamond A Cattle Company, and the Hatchet Cattle Company. Their herds of cattle, horses, and sheep ranged on some eleven million acres of land in an era still fascinating to explore."--BOOK JACKET.