This Day…

1887 – The Swan Land and Cattle Company of Wyoming, only four years old, declares bankruptcy following the devastating winter of 1886-7.  The demise of the huge livestock corporation is symbolic of the Depression that will grip the cattle industry on the Great Plains during the next 10 years.  Over the period the number of cattle in Wyoming alone will decline from 9 million head in 1886 to only 3 million by 1895.