Section 2
The Cattle Trails
A Market for Beef
After Civil War…demand for beef increased
· Expansion of the railroad allowed beef to be shipped to markets in the North and East
· Stockyards {pen where livestock is kept before being butchered or shipped to market} and packinghouses {warehouse where beef is prepared for shipment} sprang up in Chicago and St. Louis
***Cattle owners were looking for a way to get cattle to the market {a longhorn worth $4.00 in Texas was worth $40.00 in Chicago}
Abilene, Kansas became the first cow town (town that serves as a market or shipping point for cattle)
· Founded by Joseph G. McCoy
· On the southern end of the
Union Pacific Railroad
§ Holding pens
§ Wide streets
§ Means of entertainment
for cowhands
McCoy attracted buyers from eastern packinghouses to bid on the herds
Chisholm Trail opened in 1867…cut through Indian Territory but avoided settled areas of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas (trouble with Native Americans weighed against the need to get the cattle to market…worth the risk)
The Development of Cattle Trail
Chisholm Trail
Victoria®Austin®
Fort Worth®Denton®
Indian Territory®Wichita
®Abilene
§ 1867 – 35,000 head
§ 1869, 350,000 head
§ Next 20 years…
6 million
Western Trail
(Dodge City Trail)
Brownsville®San Antonio®Fort Belknap®
Doan’s Crossing®Dodge City
Goodnight –Loving Trail
Fort Belknap®San Angelo®New Mexico Territory®Pueblo®
Denver®Cheyenne
Life on the Trail
Roundup – the process of herding together cattle that are scattered
§ Unbranded cattle were marked to prove ownership
§ Took several weeks…involved hundreds of cowhands from neighboring ranches
§ Separated cattle into herds…ranging in size from a few hundred to 2,500
*** Initially cattle owners drove herds to market…later hired agents for a fee (usually $1.00 per head of cattle delivered to market)
Trail Boss…complete authority over all the cowhands and other employees on the trail
Scouts…
q Rode in front of the herd to pick the best route
§ Availability of water and grass
· Season of year
· How many herds had used the trail that year
q Herds always traveled North
q Alerted trail boss to dangers
§ Bad weather
§ Hostile Native Americans
§ Outlaws
Pointers
q Highly skilled cowhands
q Rode at the side of the lead cattle to direct the cattle
Flankers
q Rode beside the herd to keep the cattle from straying too far
Drag
q Rear of the herd…kept the cattle from straying behind
Wranglers
q Took care of the extra horses
Cook
q Prepared all of the meal for the outfit
o Breakfast – coffee, sourdough biscuits, beef and beans
q Rode ahead in the chuck wagon to the next campsite
o chuck wagon carried cooking equipment and food
§
o
Cowhands would gather around the campsite at night and sing songs…
An Expanding Cattle Range
As cattle drives continued…those arriving earliest in the spring and summer received the highest prices…
Cattle owners arriving late in the fall began to keep their herds on government land for the winter so they would be first in the spring…bringing the higher price (made up for the lose of livestock in the harsh winters)
…Cattle kingdom spread into the western United States
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