A range war, also known as range conflict or cattle war, is a type of usually violent conflict, most commonly in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the American West. The subject of these conflicts was control of "open range", or range land freely used for cattle grazing, or conflicting sheep pasture, which gave these conflicts its name. Typically they were disputes over water rights, grazing rights, or cattle ownership.
What An Unbranded Cow Has Cost by Frederic Remington, which depicts the aftermath of a range war between cowboys and supposed rustlers. 1895
In the Western United States and Canada, open range is rangeland where cattle roam freely regardless of land ownership. Where there are "open range" laws, those wanting to keep animals off their property must erect a fence to keep animals out; this applies to public roads as well. Land in open range that is designated as part of a "herd district" reverses liabilities, requiring an animal's owner to fence it in or otherwise keep it on the person's own property. Most eastern states and jurisdictions in Canada require owners to fence in or herd their livestock.
Red Desert rangeland in Wyoming
Open Range sign along southbound U.S. Route 93 in Lincoln County, Nevada.
A cattle roundup in Colorado, c.1898.
An open range sign along the Interstate 10 Frontage Road in southern Arizona.
