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Joshua Specht puts people at the heart of Red Meat Republic鈥攖he big cattle ranchers who helped to drive the nation鈥檚 westward expansion, the meatpackers who created a radically new kind of industrialized slaughterhouse, and the stockyard workers who were subjected to the shocking and unsanitary conditions described by Upton Sinclair in his novel The Jungle. So, who are some of the main players in this story? Specht offers a brief primer in these character sketches.

Way Hamlin Updegraff* was a cowboy by trade, but a comedian by disposition. In a series of letters to his mother back in Elmira, NY, he chronicled his life as a New Mexico cowboy during the 1880s. These letters freely mix the romance of being a cowboy with Updegraff鈥檚 often-hilarious analysis of ranch life. In one particularly energetic letter from September 1886, he complains about a new pair of pants which has a fatal error of design: 鈥淢r G. brought my corduroys鈥�after I had gotten [them] on, admired their fine fit, I was naturally a trifle proud, and went to stick my hands in my pockets to strut around a little鈥攂ut I couldn鈥檛 find the pocket and Holy Moses! On minute examination I found I didn鈥檛 have any in front. Now, by the greatness of Peter the Great, how in thunder do you suppose a cowboy can get along without pockets?鈥� Updegraff rants a bit more about his pants before concluding 鈥淚 would have much preferred to have had you send me three or four pairs of good sized pockets than pants in such a condition.鈥� Updegraff鈥檚 letters reveal the world of cattle labor during the 1880s, but they also reveal the importance of the cowboy myth, even to the participants themselves. Updegraff recounts his struggles with difficult and often poorly-paid work, but in response to his mother鈥檚 anxious pleas for him to return, observes, 鈥渢he longer I stay the longer I want to stay.鈥�

Born in Silesia, Walter Baron von Richthofen moved to Denver, Colorado and became a town booster. He wrote , which argued that almost anyone could get rich on the plains. His guide is extremely detailed, featuring not only inspirational stories鈥攁n Irish servant girl turned $150 in back-pay into $25,000 in cattle!鈥攂ut step-by-step instructions to doubling your money in only five years. Before you go out and buy Richthofen鈥檚 guide, however, remember that if someone really has a formula for getting rich quick, they probably aren鈥檛 going to waste time writing a book. Nevertheless, Richthofen did seem to be a genuine believer in western development and particularly in the commercial fortunes of Denver. He lived in a kind of latter-day castle that you can still see today in east Denver.

Wo-Haw is one of the of the American West. A Kiowa man, he fought first against the encroachments of American settlers and later against the power of the United States. He was captured on the Southern Plains in 1875 and incarcerated in Fort Marion, Florida, where he produced 鈥渓edger drawings鈥� chronicling his life. Using colored pencils and notebook paper, these works recreate a traditional style that was painted on animal hides. This was more necessity than artistic innovation; notebook paper was all Wo-Haw had available during his captivity. His 1877 work, 鈥淏etween Two Worlds,鈥� which opens chapter one, shows the artist torn between the world of cattle and settled agriculture and the world of the bison and its hunt. Wo-Haw uneasily faces the invading creature, pipe extended. Wo-Haw鈥檚 art captures a moment of transition for the Southern Plains as well as reflects the violence inflicted on the world of the Kiowa and their Plains Indian allies.

Big man, big ego, big personality. Armour was the head of the meatpacking firm Armour & Company. When asked about his fortune, he claimed it had its origins in waste, explaining, 鈥渁fter a while we shall see other fortunes made, like mine has been, out of the things we now waste.鈥� Armour was a shrewd and ruthless businessman with a hatred of organized labor that was as much ideological as practical. During an 1886 meatpacking strike, he not only refused to compromise with striking workers but was alleged to have used his influence over small-meatpackers to ensure they would 鈥渄ance as he fiddles鈥� when it came to handling their own employees. Creating the cattle-beef complex was about far more than Armour and his meatpacking compatriots鈥攚hatever they might have claimed鈥攂ut Armour and his ilk were certainly its chief beneficiaries.

Joshua Specht teaches American history at Monash University in Australia. He divides his time between Melbourne and South Bend, Indiana. Twitter: @joshspecht