Why do you think the cows existed? Chicago is where the wild west cows wound up. Cowboys existed because barons of beef on the hoof wanted cheap Mexican (Spanish speaking) vaccero labour to move cattle, trampling down sheep and other farming fences, to exploit prairie grasses without paying land damage costs, to ship meat to Chicago to feed the exploding eastern state population.

Cowboy culture and wild West was exploitative bullshit, both literally and figuratively. What was happening was a fight between expansion for cows, other farming, and the sweep westward. It lasted 30 years before it was legalised into normality. Dodge city cowboys are a myth based on thin facts and nothing about the wild west is good regarding internet governance