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→Legacy: Added reference to song 'The Cattle Thief' which retells Waton's tale. |
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==Watson and the WSGA==
With her savings, Watson bought cattle from emigrants on the trails.<ref name=vanpelt165>Van Pelt, p. 165.</ref> She fenced about 60 acres of her land with [[barbed wire]], but this would not have been enough grazing area for her small herd. In this era, many ranchers grazed their cattle on public land. In 1872, about two dozen of the cattlemen with the largest ranches banded together to create the [[Wyoming Stock Growers Association]] (WSGA) to protect their rights to the [[open range]].<ref name=wilson59>Wilson, p. 59.</ref> After suffering massive losses in [[the Snow Winter of 1880–1881]], when cattle were unable to get to the grass under the snowdrifts, ranchers began growing hay as an alternative way of feeding the animals during the winter. For an area with little rainfall, this meant that access to water for irrigation was now crucial to the survival of the ranches.<ref name=mclure274>McLure, p. 274.</ref> The land claimed by Watson and Averell controlled {{convert|1|mi|km}} of water along Horse Creek.<ref name=wilson61/>
A law at the time stated that unbranded calves became the property of the WSGA. The cattlemen's associations limited small ranchers from bidding at auctions, and insisted that all ranchers, small and large, have a registered [[brand]]. The cost for registering a brand was exorbitant, ensuring that few small ranchers could afford it. Also, a brand had to be "accepted", and the cattlemen's associations had substantial power inside the committee that either rejected or accepted brands, thus locking out smaller ranchers.<ref name= Kate/><ref name=Brumbaugh/>
Over a three-year period, Watson and Averell filed applications for five different brands and were denied each time.<ref name=davis72>Davis, p. 72.</ref> In 1889 she bought a previously registered brand, "L-U", (an altered pronunciation of 'Ella') from John Crowder.<ref name=mclure274/>
===Bothwell===
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==Aftermath of killings==
County Sheriff Frank Hadsell and Deputy Sheriff Phil Watson (no relation to Ella) arrested Albert Bothwell and five other men for the two murders. A trial date was set, but Gene Crowder and John DeCorey both left the area before the trial, while Buchanan was initially taken into protective custody, but later disappeared and was widely thought to have been murdered, despite claims to the contrary by a newspaper.<ref name= Kate/><ref name=Brumbaugh/> Although the events caused a political controversy in the state, Bothwell acquired both homesteads of the murdered victims and ran his ranch without any legal repercussion or other retribution until he retired to Los Angeles, where he died in the
==Cattle Kate==
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The story of Watson is told in the song ''[https://wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com/track/the-cattle-thief The Cattle Thief]'' by ''Wayfarer'' on their 2023-released ''[https://wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com/album/american-gothic American Gothic]''.
==See also==
{{Portal| Biography }}
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