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The Great Die-Up: The 1886-87 Winter That Broke Open-Range Ranching

A hot summer, an early winter and an overstocked range combined to wreck the northern cattle boom.

What was the Great Die-Up?

The Great Die-Up, also called the Big Die-Up, was the run of brutal winters in 1885 to 1886 and 1886 to 1887 that killed hundreds of thousands of cattle across the Northern Plains. The deaths were not discovered until spring, when carcasses lay across fields and washed down streams, according to the Wikiwand article on the winter of 1886 to 1887.

Survivors were emaciated and frostbitten, and they sold for much less than before. Some businesses went bankrupt.

How the winter unfolded

Summer 1886 was unusually hot and dry, with prairie fires and dry water sources. Warning signs appeared in the fall: birds migrated south earlier than usual, beavers stockpiled more wood, and some cattle grew shaggier coats. The first major storm hit in November 1886, and December was far colder than recent memory.

The Theodore Roosevelt Center essay on the devastating winter of 1886 to 1887 reports temperatures near 40 degrees below zero in January 1887 for days at a time, drifts of three to four feet, and storms from November through March. Cattle crowded into river valleys and coulees looking for shelter and food, and many died standing.

An overstocked range before the storm

The same essay notes that the range was already overstocked and the grass badly grazed before the winter began. That fits a wider pattern: English investment drew business people into the industry and large cattle companies formed, and from about 1866 to 1890 more than five million cattle were driven north to the Great Plains.

The Wikiwand article describes many of the affected operations as large ranches focused on short-term profits. A cattle herd turned out on the open range in winter had no hay put by and no fence to hold it.

How many cattle died?

Figures differ. One summary page on the open range says 60 to 95 percent of major ranches' stock starved, and treats that as the end of the open-range industry. The Wikiwand article gives no percentage and says only hundreds of thousands died. Treat any single ranch loss as an individual case rather than a rule.

Roosevelt is the best-known case. His ranches near Medora, Dakota Territory, were hit hard, and he lost roughly 60 percent of his combined herds across the Maltese Cross and Elkhorn ranches, though sources differ and some accounts put the loss higher. Historians estimate his net loss at about $25,000. The Marquis de Mores reportedly lost only 16 of 15,000 cattle bought for his slaughterhouse, but his other ventures failed and he left Dakota.

Why It Mattered

The winter ended the open-range cattle boom and forced a reorganization of ranching. Survivors reduced herd sizes, invested in fencing and hay for winter feeding, and rotated grazing land.

It also had a human and ecological cost that the record only partly captures, and it is hard to separate the weather from the overgrazing that preceded it.

  • Ranchers who survived cut herd sizes to match the grass the range could hold.
  • They put up hay for winter feed rather than trusting the open range to carry cattle.
  • They built fences, and the losses weakened opposition to wire in the cattle country.
  • They rotated grazing land instead of stocking it all year.
  • Large outfits chasing short-term profit were hit hardest, per the Wikiwand summary.
  • Roosevelt, who lost heavily, later tied his conservation thinking to limits he saw on the range.

Blizzards, barbed wire and the Plains afterward

The Oklahoma Historical Society's entry on barbed wire says blizzards drove thousands of cattle into the wire, where they died, and that these losses weakened opposition to fencing. Fencing then ended open-range ranching and the roundup circuit, and it enabled selective breeding of Hereford and Angus cattle. Walter Prescott Webb described this shift as ranching becoming stock-farming.

The Great Die-Up is remembered in Montana through the art of C.M. Russell, whose Waiting for a Chinook is shown in the Wikiwand article. For more on the range era, see the ranching section of farm.FM and a farm.FM story about a hard winter on the range. The Oklahoma Historical Society entry on barbed wire and the open range covers the fence side.

Timeline

  1. 1885-1886First hard winter hits northern cattle country
  2. Summer 1886Hot, dry summer with prairie fires
  3. November 1886First major storm arrives early
  4. December 1886Far colder than recent memory; Roosevelt marries Edith Carow
  5. January 1887Temperatures near 40 degrees below zero for days
  6. March 1887Winter ends; carcasses found in spring
  7. Spring 1887Roosevelt returns to his Dakota ranches and finds heavy losses

Frequently asked questions

What was the Great Die-Up?

The Great Die-Up was the severe winter of 1886 to 1887, with a bad winter before it, that killed hundreds of thousands of cattle across the Northern Plains and ended the open-range cattle boom.

How many cattle died in the winter of 1886-87?

Sources differ. One page says hundreds of thousands died over two winters, while a summary of the open range says 60 to 95 percent of major ranches' stock starved. Roosevelt lost roughly 60 percent of his herds.

How did the Great Die-Up change ranching?

Survivors cut herd sizes, put up hay for winter feed, built fences and rotated grazing land. The open range with unfenced year-round grazing was no longer seen as safe or profitable.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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