After the Civil War, Texas was poor in industry and jobs. But it was cattle rich. The Spanish cattle introduced in the 1500s had flourished on open ranges throughout southern and central Texas, and ranged as far north as the Red River, and west to the Llano Estacado and to the Piney Woods in the east, numbering in the millions. At the time, they were called Texas cattle, or wild cattle; they are now known as Texas Longhorns. In the eastern U.S., the human population was growing, and railroads were expanding west. A large, beef-hungry population was starting to purchase cattle brought in by rail access to eastern processing plants. Finally, a large difference in cattle prices between Texas and Kansas sparked large cattle drives out of Texas, meeting this demand for beef, igniting the Trail Drive Era, and establishing a Texas ranching industry and culture that is still enjoyed and celebrated today!
It is conservatively estimated that over 10 million head of cattle were gathered and moved north out of Texas, all trails combined, over about a 30-year period from 1865-1895. It was arguably the largest movement of domestic cattle ever. That many cattle had never, and have not since, been moved that far and that fast, and it was all done with cowboys on horseback.
Three cattle trails out of Texas carried the bulk of these cattle and ignited a change in western civilization that would forever define Texas as a ranching superpower: the Great Western, the Chisholm, and the Goodnight-Loving.
The Great Western Trail has many feeder routes but stretches from Matamoros, Mexico to the Canadian border, travelling mostly north about 2,000 miles, with the most heavily used section from Bandera, Texas, to Dodge City, Kansas, over 600 miles. A large network of feeder trails joined the Great Western Trail in southern and central Texas. The Chisholm Trail also has many feeder routes in central and south Texas, but its longest route stretches from near Corpus Christi through Austin, Fort Worth, Red River Station, and on to Abilene, Kansas, over 800 miles. The Goodnight-Loving route followed the old Butterfield Stage route from Fort Belknap southwest to Fort Phantom, Fort Concho, to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos, and then up the Pecos valley to Fort Sumner, to near Capulin, through Tinchera Pass, then east of the Rockies and present-day Denver, and eventually to Cheyenne, Wyoming, around 1,000 miles.
Cattle trail routes were continually revised as the years progressed, and routes continually varied based on current settlements, grazing availability, and Native American conflicts. Trails could be as narrow as a pass one animal wide to as broad as a 10-mile corridor between lines of hills.The immense scale was staggering. A trail herd typically numbered from 1,000 to 3,000 head. Smaller herds were inefficient, and larger herds were difficult to manage and move. Smaller herds would occasionally be put together or travel in close quarters for mutual protection. A herd would generally employ 35-50 cowboys, with at least a couple of horses for each cowboy.
It was the trail drives and the resulting booming ranching industry that developed the Texas Cowboy, and Charles Goodnight developed the idea of the chuck wagon from a military freight wagon to haul essential supplies and keep his cowboys fed along the trail.
The Texas Longhorn cattle were the heart of the trail drives, developed by their time running wild in Texas into a hardy variant of the already well-adapted Spanish cattle. The drovers moved them up the trails at 10 to 15 miles a day, from daybreak until mid-afternoon, when the herds were allowed afternoon grazing and a drink before a good night’s rest. The longhorns were well-adapted to the trip, possessing barrel-shaped bodies, high flanks and relatively long legs, allowing for many miles of easy movement.
But nature had other ideas! The energetic and always alert longhorn cattle had an imagination that transformed a stray rabbit wandering through into a hungry wolf, and any nightly sound or disturbance was likely to transform a calm and resting herd into a wildly running stampede in the blink of an eye! Stampedes were a frequent problem on a drive, especially if the cattle were nervous due to impending thunderstorms. Stampedes were wild and scary, with drovers often running their horses at top speed to get the cattle to turn into a mill and slow down and stop, often with no light and riding only by what they could hear! It took a day or maybe several to regather cattle after a stampede, and many might never be found.
Thunderstorms on the trail proved to be a mixed blessing. They were frequent and strong in the spring and summer months during the drives. Storms brought rain to the grasslands up the trail and kept the cattle supplied with fresh grazing (many gained weight when the grazing was good). But they also spooked herds into stampedes and caused rivers and streams to flood that must then be crossed.
A good lead steer was very valuable to drovers, especially crossing flooded rivers. The lead steer was usually bigger and older and had been on drives before. Often, they knew the way as well as the cowboys and would stay in the lead, with the other cattle reliably following. One such steer named Pardner belonged to young Bill Blocker, and he proved his worth more than once. On approaching the flooded Red River, the Blocker drive was unable to make their cattle start the swim across the wide expanse, which was common if the cattle couldn’t see the other bank well. Bill asked to be put in charge of the crossing, and then confidently rode his horse into the flooded river with the big steer Pardner beside him. The other cattle followed Bill and Pardner, safely getting their herd across. Many other herds followed the Blocker herd across that day, all because of a good lead steer. Later, on the same drive, Pardner saved Bill from drowning as they crossed another flooded river. Bill was knocked from his horse, and Pardner swam by closely, allowing Bill to grab his tail and be towed to the far bank and safety.
After a river crossing or a night’s rest, the cattle would resume their trip, with each animal adjusting their position to their usual place and with their same “travelling partners.” They were so accustomed to the arrangement that the same pattern was repeated day after day. In a stampede, they were often separated from their travelling partners and would stop and bawl and listen for the answer. This was also true of a cow separated from her calf in a drive. This served to slow and stop many a stampede.
A longhorn might depart from the drive to investigate something strange, like a dropped handkerchief or a cowboy on foot. Because of this natural curiosity, the drovers tried to keep distractions to a minimum. But the curious beasts also were stubborn and wary of other new things. Many drovers recounted that they could only approach a river or stream at a certain angle, so the sun did not reflect into the eyes of the cattle. There were also accounts of day-long attempts to convince a herd to begin to cross a set of railroad tracks.
Driving on the Goodnight-Loving Trail, drovers might be faced with several days without water and could only complete the trip with great care by travelling in the cooler parts of the day or waiting for cooler or cloudy weather. One such drive was plagued by extreme heat, and the cattle got so thirsty they turned back to the last water they remembered, several days back, with the cowboys unable to stop them. Then they started to go blind from dehydration! Thankfully the drovers had managed to water their mounts from a small well and the horses were not so bad off. Most of the riders went ahead of the herd to guide the impaired animals back to their previous water at Indian Lakes. Thankfully, they lost very few cattle. The longhorns had enough sense even in their extreme thirst to drink slowly with rests between so they would not rupture their stomach from drinking too much.
As drives progressed, wild cattle would often join the herd. Drovers might encourage this or not, depending on how well their herd was behaving. It was legal if the cattle were not branded, showing ownership to someone else! Many trail drives used a “road brand” as the herd might come from many sources. This brand was put on many of the cattle in a drive to separately identify that particular drive in case of separation from the main herd, and ownership came into question.
As the years passed, railroads progressed into Texas and barbed wire fenced off the open ranges, and the long trail drives were no longer needed or possible.
The overall consequence of the 30-year trail drive era, from about 1865 to 1895, was employment and a massive return of cash to Texas when the state was poor and short on money and jobs. This money helped buy and develop ranches, communities and infrastructure throughout the state, and played a huge role in developing Texas’ cattle industry into what it is today. But the influence of the trail drives and the longhorn cattle was more far-reaching than just Texas. Historian and author John E. Rouse summed up the influence of the Texas Longhorn cattle with one paragraph:
“The protein-rich American diet started with the Spanish cow. That animal changed the course of American civilization, altering the life, culture, and economy of individuals, empires, nations and continents. The cattle dominion that flourished on virgin grasslands from the Argentine to Canada was built on the Spanish cow.”
