CATTLE RANGE NEW MEXICO HOW TO
CATTLE RANGE NEW MEXICO FREE

These laws allow animals to roam freely regardless of land ownership. What is an open-range state?Īn open-range state means that by default livestock owners are generally not liable if their loose cattle lead to injuries or other damages. Livestock running-at-large may sound like the plot of a sitcom, however, for the hundreds of people injured each year, cattle on the loose is no laughing matter.

CATTLE RANGE NEW MEXICO FREE

Roaming livestock crashes are far more common than you may believe.Īdditionally, Texas is a patchwork of counties and cities of both open and closed range laws stemming from special local elections about the types of livestock that are free to roam-if at all. However, property owners in the state do have a responsibility to keep cattle away from state and federal highways. An open-range state means that cattle are typically free to roam at large. How can an attorney help me after a roaming livestock crash?.Free-Roaming Cattle: Deadly Car Crashes.

CATTLE RANGE NEW MEXICO HOW TO

How to identify the owner of a roaming cattle.Determining liability in a roaming livestock crash.How can a landowner knowingly permit animals to roam at-large?.Are there any exceptions to the Open-Range Doctrine?.In retaliation, Billy and his gang of “Rustlers,” including Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson, Tom O’Folliard, and Charles Bowdre, began to steal Chisum’s cattle.Ĭopyright © 2023 Legends of America. When Billy the Kid went to see Chisum, believing that the cattle baron owed him $500, Chisum refused to pay. Though Billy the Kid and Chisum supported the same side in the bitter struggles of the Lincoln County War, the two would be at odds once the war was over and amnesty proclaimed for those who participated. Governor Lew Wallace proclaimed an amnesty for all those involved in the bitter feud, except for Billy. īefore the Lincoln County War was over, both McSween and Tunstall would be killed, and Billy the Kid would be a wanted fugitive. However, he was known to have given sanctuary and financial assistance to those fighting on the side of McSween and Tunstall.

Chisum does not appear to have had any direct contact in the furious gunfights and bloody battles. The feud eventually led to what is known as the Lincoln County War. Chisum backed McSween and Tunstall when they opened a rival business in 1876 and began challenging the large profits that Murphy and Dolan recognized. McSween and John Tunstall were in a bitter feud with Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, who owned the only store in Lincoln County and monopolized the area’s economy. In 1875, he purchased the 40-acre South Spring Ranch, three miles south of Roswell, New Mexico, and made it his headquarters of a cattle ranching empire that extended for 150 miles of land along the Pecos River.ĭuring this time, Chisum befriended Lincoln County, New Mexico lawyer Alexander McSween. When Loving succumbed to a Comanche arrow in 1868, Chisum continued his partnership with Goodnight, prospering over the next five years. In 1866-67, he partnered with cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving to drive herds of cattle to the Army in Fort Sumner and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He started a ranch in the Bosque Grande, about forty miles south of Fort Sumner. He would later provide Jensie and his daughters with a home in Bonham, Texas, and financial support for their needs.īy the early 1860s, Chisum had developed his own herd of over 100,000 head of cattle and became one of the first to send his herds into New Mexico. The couple had two daughters.Īt the outbreak of the Civil War, Chisum freed all his slaves, including Jensie. The girl was just 15 years old and beautiful, and Chisum began a love affair with her. During this time, Chisum purchased a mulatto slave girl named Jensie from some emigrants bound for California. He soon went to work for a prominent rancher as a cowboy and started to develop his own herd. In 1854, Chisum moved to Denton County, where he settled on Clear Creek, three miles above the town of Bolivar. Later, he would serve as the County Clerk in Lamar County. A cattle baron who moved longhorn herds from Texas into New Mexico in the mid-1800s, Chisum would work with Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving, found one of the largest cattle ranches in the American West, and become involved in New Mexico’s Lincoln County War.īorn in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on August 15, 1824, Chisum’s family moved to Texas in 1837, where the teenager soon found work as a building contractor.

Cattle range new mexico