Before the Gold Rush of 1848-1858, Alta (Upper) California was an isolated cattle frontier--and home to a colorful group of Spanish-speaking, non-indigenous people known as Californios. Profiting from the forced labor of large numbers of local Indians, they carved out an almost feudal way of life, raising cattle along the California coast and valleys. Visitors described them as a good-looking, vibrant, improvident people. Many traces of their culture remain in California. Yet their prosperity rested entirely on undisputed ownership of large ranches. As they lost control of these in the wake of the Mexican War, they lost their high status and many were reduced to subsistence-level jobs or fell into abject poverty. Drawing on firsthand contemporary accounts, the authors chronicle the rise and fall of Californio men and women.

In 1769–1770, Spanish Catholic missionaries, soldiers, and Cochimí Indians traveled to Alta California. They relied on domesticated animals, like horses and cattle, for food security in the continual expansion of the Spanish empire. These rapidly increasing herds consumed traditional sources of Indigenous foods, medicines, tools, and weapons and soon outstripped the ability of soldiers and priests to control them. This reality forced the Spanish missionaries to train trusted American Indian converts in the art of cowboying and cattle ranching. American Indian Cowboys in Southern California, 1493–1941: Survival, Sovereignty, and Identity by David G. Shanta provides new insights into the impact of horses and cattle on the Indigenous peoples of the Spanish Borderlands after early colonization. He examines how the American Indian cowboys formed the backbone of Spanish mission economies, the international trade in cowhides and tallow that created the Mexican ranchero class known as Californios, and later on American cattle operations. Shanta shows that California Native peoples adopted cowboying and cattle ranching, first as a survival strategy, but then also acquiring and running their own herds and forming a new, California American Indian economy based on cattle. Their new economy reinforced their demands for sovereignty over their ancestral lands with exclusive rights to essential elements, including the essential elements of pasturage and water. This book affirms the innovative nature of American Indian Cowboys and brings to light how they survived, kept their cultures alive, and gained recognition of their sovereign status.

Charts the social and ethnic history of Spanish-speaking California and the displacement of California's Mexican ranching elite following the Mexican War and the gold rush of 1849.

The dime novel and dude ranch, the barbecue and rodeo, the suburban ranch house and the urban cowboy—all are a direct legacy of nineteenth-century cowboy life that still enlivens American popular culture. Yet at the same time, reports of environmental destruction or economic inefficiency have motivated calls for restricted livestock grazing on public lands or even for an end to ranching altogether. In Let the Cowboy Ride, Starrs offers a detailed and comprehensive look at one of America's most enduring institutions. Richly illustrated with more than 130 photographs and maps, the book combines the authentic detail of an insider's view (Starrs spent six years working cattle on the high desert Great Basin range) with a scholar's keen eye for objective analysis.

For the Mexican government to go to war with its more powerful northern neighbor in 1846 was folly. Mexico surrendered to the United States more than half a million square miles of territory, contributing to a legacy of distrust and bitterness towards the U.S. that has never entirely dissipated. The real prize was California. The Californios--Spanish speaking, non-native inhabitants of the province of Alta (Upper) California--had ambiguous loyalties to the Mexican government and minimal military capabilities. American control of California was considered the keystone of Manifest Destiny, and naval and amphibious operations along the Pacific coast began as early as 1821 and continued for weeks after the end of the war. This book describes the often overlooked military and naval operations in California before and during the Mexican War, and introduces readers to the colorful Californios, the American adventurers who arrived after them, and the Indians, who preceded them both.