• Ranching took off in Arizona after 1880. There were 11,741 cattle in Pima County that year and 121,377 by 1891. Boom-and-bust cycles followed, the latter created by overgrazing and periodic droughts.
• The Arizona Rangers were formed in 1901 specifically to stop cattle thieves. Unlike local sheriffs, rangers could cross county lines. They didn't have authority in Sonora, but that didn't stop them from making arrests south of the border.
• The cowboy of the early 1900s earned $10 a week, according to author Odie B. Faulk's "Arizona, A Short History." That's about $225 in today's dollars.
• A "cowman" was often used to refer to someone who owned cattle. "Cowboys" and "cowhands" were their employees.
• The Star reported in 1942 that "eastern bankers, publishers, oilmen, manufacturers, and sons of men of wealth" were buying up pieces of old "cattle empires." In the previous decade, they'd taken almost a million acres out of the hands of pioneer cattle operators, Bernice Cosulich wrote.
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• Arizona had more cattle than people until about 1950.
• There were 870,000 head of cattle in Arizona in January 2011. The U.S. total was 92 million.
Want your own brand? You don't need to have cattle
There were 11,566 Arizona brands recorded in 1908 and about 12,200 now.
Brands are supposed to be used on livestock - not as logos for other purposes - but that doesn't stop city-slickers from owning them. It costs $75 to register a new brand with the state, and it's good for five years.
