Chadron State College. Cattle Drives of the Great Plains

Chadron State College Cattle Drives of the Great Plains Lance Neuerburg CAP 469C Great Plains Kurt Kinbacher Tuesday, May 2, 2018

Cattle Drives of the Great Plains discusses the trails that were used to push cattle to the rail heads throughout the 1860s and some parts of the 1870s. The trails discussed are: The Good Night Loving Trail, The Western Trail, The Chisholm Trail, The Potter Bacon Trail, and The Shawnee Trail. Going into more detail the essay breaks down each trail as to where they started, where they ended -- in other words where the rail heads were, when and who founded the trails, and some problems such as Texas Fever that were faced along the trails. The Goodnight Loving Trail The Goodnight-Loving Trail was first discovered by Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving in 1866. The trial was first started as a way to sell cattle to the U.S. Government at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Ultimately the trail ran from Young County, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, then through Colorado, and ended in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The trail was discovered after the Civil War when cattle were in great need, meaning that the market was at a high. This meant that whoever had cattle and was able to drive and sell them was able to receive a high price. The first herd of cattle that were drove on this trail to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, was on June 6, 1866, with 1,200 head. The other 800 head were driven to Denver, Colorado, by Oliver Loving where he sold the rest of the cattle to John Wesley Iliff. At this time, Charles Goodnight went back to Texas and started to trail another herd of cattle. Along this new journey in 1867, Oliver Loving was attacked by Comanche Indians while scouting ahead to get signed contracts from forts and other associations that were in need for beef. Loving was able to ride back to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where he died from a procedure in trying to save his life on September 25, 1867. At this time Goodnight finished the cattle drive to Colorado, and then returned and took Oliver Loving s body back to Texas where he could be buried. A year later in 1868, Charles Goodnight and John Wesley Iliff signed a contract in an

agreement to drive cattle to the Union Pacific Railroad in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was not till 1870 when Goodnight and John Chisum joined forces and finished the trail extending it to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Goodnight had used the trail for a few more years, and later settled on his ranch in Texas. Through this time and with years to come, the trail was still used by many other Texas ranches. As the Texas ranchers drove their cattle to Colorado and Wyoming, many new Texas cattle ranches were formed along the trail. Charles Goodnight Charles Goodnight was born in Mocoupin County, Illinois, on March 5, 1836. Goodnight made his way to Waco, Texas with his family in 1846. By the age of twenty he began working as a cowboy and started his service in the local militia. During his service for the militia he fought in numerous fights against the Comanche Indians. After his service in the militia, in 1857 Goodnight joined the Texas Rangers. After joining the Texas Rangers as a scout, he continued the fight against the Comanche Indians. When the Civil War began in 1861, Goodnight joined and became a scout until the war ended in 1865. After his life as a Confederate Army scout ended in 1865, he met Oliver Loving where they had made a pack to drive cattle from Belknap, Texas to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. During the beginning of Goodnight and Oliver s career, Goodnight invented the chuck wagon by rebuilding an army surplus wagon to help carry food and goods along the trail. Later, on July 26, 1870, Goodnight was able to get married to Mary Ann Dyer, who was a schoolteacher from Weatherford, Texas. After his career in driving cattle to New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming in 1876, Goodnight settled in Texas and created a ranch called the JA Ranch. At the JA Ranch, Goodnight joined forces with John Adair, and they ranched on nearly a

million acres with a herd of approximately 100,000 head of cattle. In 1878, Goodnight formed the Palo Duro-Dodge City Trail where he drove a herd of cattle from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. This trail was used by some of the Panhandle Texas Ranchers for a few years and was later forgotten about. In 1879, Goodnight moved the JA Ranch headquarters to Turkey Creek so his cattle would be closer to the railroad. By the 1880s, cattle rustling became problematic. When no one was able to handle the rustlers, Goodnight created the Panhandle Stockman s Association that was located in Mobeetie, Texas. The association was able to help eliminate many of cattle rustling. In 1889 when the open range had ended and fences were started to be built, Goodnight left the JA Ranch and started his own operation which is now called the Village of Goodnight, Texas. In 1919, an investment in a Mexican Silver Mine brought Goodnight into financial troubles, where he had to sell his ranch to W.J. McAlister. But his agreement was that McAlister could not move into the house till Goodnight and his wife both passed. In 1929, Goodnight s wife died and later on that year in December he died. Oliver Loving Loving was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky, on December 4, 1812. He grew up on a farm in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, and later became a farmer. In the year 1833, Loving married Susan Doggett Morgan. Ten years later, Loving and his wife, and all of his brother and sister and their families moved to Texas. Once he moved to Texas he was able to purchase 600 acres in Collin, Dallas, and Parker Counties. Loving farmed the land and later on became a freight hauler, while still farming his land. In 1855, Loving his, wife, and seven kids moved to Palo Pinto County, Texas. When first

moving to the area Loving started running a country store and started to run his ranching career. By the year 1857, Loving had got his hands on 1,000 acres and even more cattle. He then started his own cattle drives, driving the cattle to New Mexico and receiving a very good profit. Loving was able to receive the high prices he needed for his family due to the demand for the beef. Through this time Loving received the nickname The Dean of Texas Trail Drivers. He received the nickname, because he was receiving such high profits on his beginning cattle drives. Once the Civil War started in 1861, Loving joined forces with the Confederates in providing beef to them throughout the whole war. Loving thought this to be a very profitable movement, but after the war had ended in 1865 Loving was down $100,000. Loving never did see the money from the Confederate Government, and even if he did the money would have been worthless. In the year 1866, Oliver Loving met Charles Goodnight where they had created a plan to drive cattle from Fort Belknap, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and later on to Colorado and Wyoming. After the trail had been marked out in 1866, later in 1867 Loving had been scouting ahead on the trail to get contracts signed for their cattle. When doing so, Loving was attacked by Comanche Indians where he was wounded. Loving was able to ride all the way back to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, but died on September 25, 1867 during an operation that was needed to save his life. The Western trail The Western Trail was founded by John T. Lytle in 1874. The Western Trail has also come to include the names Dodge City Trail and Fort Griffin Trail. The trail was created when the the Red River War had ended against Red Cloud and his tribe. The trail ran from the South

part of Texas to the Red Cloud Indian Agency at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. The route ran parallel to The Chisholm Trail. In 1879, the Western Trail became one of the most well known and traveled trail of this time. The trail Extended from Kerrville, Texas, to Oklahoma and Kansas. The Trail was used by many ranchers to sell their beef to the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and Cheyenne Reservations. Around 1885 with the invention of barbed wire and the railroad new settlers started to come into the areas and created their own farms and ranchers, the trail started to be used less and less. The primary reason the trail ended was because of Texas Fever. A quarantine law had been created, which led to the longhorn cattle from Texas being tested for the Fever. John Thomas Lytle Lytle was born October 8, 1844 McSherrystown, Adams County, Pennsylvania, to Francis and Margaret Lytle. In 1860 Lytle and his parents moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he started his career as Clerk and continued to do so until 1861 when he had to stop working because of an illness. Lytle then moved to his uncle William Lytle s ranch in Atascosa County, Texas, where he was able to work and regained strength and his health. In 1863, during the Civil War, he joined forces with Company H in the thirty-second Texas Calvary. Throughout his service in the Army, Lytle jumped up in the ranks to a sergeant. In 1865, once the war ended, Lytle then moved back to his William s ranch in Atascosa County. Two years later in 1867, Lytle started his own ranch near Castroville, Texas. After getting his ranch on its feet, Lytle joined in partnership with his cousin, Thomas M. McDaniel. They established this partnered ranch with a goal to drive their cattle to the Northern railheads and ranges. In the year 1869, Lytle married Elizabeth Noonan and later on had two children. In 1874

Lytle and McDaniel partnered with Charles A. Schreiner and John W. Light. With the four partners working the ranch together. They were able to create one of the biggest and most outstanding ranches throughout Texas. The ranch contained around half a million head of cattle, which led Lytle to higher employees to manage parts of the ranch, while he oversaw the whole operation. In 1887 Schreiner purchased Lytle s part of the ranch making him the head man of the ranch. Lytle then joined the American Cattle Syndicate s Texas Holdings, and became the general manager. In 1891, Lytle then resigned and went back to his ranching career. In doing so Lytle, Saunder, and Presnall established the Union Stock Yards in San Antonio, Texas. Three years later in 1894, Lytle, Thomas Jefferson Moore, john Rufus Blocker, and W.H. Jennings purchased around half a million acres in Coahuila, Mexico. During this time, Lytle also helped create the Southwestern Livestock Commission Company in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1901 Lytle was then elected as the vice president and executive committee member of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association. In 1904 Lytle had become the secretary of the Texas Cattle Raisers Committee and was given a yearly salary position. On January 10, 1907, Lytle died from influenza. The Chisholm Trail The trail was first marked by Jesse Chisholm in 1864 when he found the trial to haul his wagons and supplies to Indian camps to trade and sell. The Chisholm Trail extended from the Red River in Texas to Abilene, Kansas. In 1867, three years after the creation of the Chisholm Trail, O.W. Wheeler drove 2,400 head of cattle to San Antonio and wintered there. He later on traveled to California to sell his cattle. But then he found Wagon tracks that were from Jesse Chisholm on his trail from 1864.

After the Civil War, the Texas cattle were of little value in Texas, but toward the East where the war had taken place; meat was in great need and the prices had sky rocketed. In 1867, Joseph G. McCoy helped in the production of the railhead in Abilene, Kansas. Once the railroad had started in production, McCoy started to build holding pens and loading facilities for the railroad. Word got to Texas about the creation of the railroad and the pens, and the Texas cattle man realized there was a market for their cattle again. Within this year, around 35,000 cattle were driven on the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas. This made the stockyards of McCoy s the biggest in the territory. Every year the numbers of cattle flooding into Kansas kept doubling until 1871. By 1871 Kansas had received 600,000 head of cattle from The Chisholm Trial. By 1884 the Texas Fever outbreak had many states fearing and creating a quarantine. With the quarantine, this led to the end of the open range and barbed wire fences had begun to be built. Jesse Chisholm Jesse Chisholm was born in 1806 to Ignatius Chisholm and his mother who was Indian. No one really knows about Chisholm s mother, except that she was Cherokee. Chisholm s father was an Irishman and his mother was Cherokee, which made him a Cherokee descendent. Chisholm was oldest out of three children, but no one really knows if his mother was also mother to his other two siblings. But from his mother being Cherokee and his later life in the Cherokee Indian Nation, Chisholm received the nickname Cherokee Jack. Later on in Chisholm s life his parents separated and moved to the Arkansas Territory. Sometime during the 1820s, Chisholm moved to the Cherokee Nation, settling in Oklahoma near Fort Gibson where he became a trader. During his time in the Cherokee Nation, he also started to hunt, guide, and scout.

In 1863, Chisholm married Eliza Edwards and he left the Cherokee nation and settled in Creek Nation in Oklahoma. When Chisolm and his wife Eliza had started to establish their new life, Chisholm created a trading post. In this area Chisholm traded and sold goods to many Indian tribes within the territory. When Chisholm was in the Cherokee Nation and was trading with the Indian tribes he learned fourteen different Indian dialects, which made it easy for him to trade then and now. When the armies in the area heard about the different Indian Dialects they hired him as an interpreter to help create treaties in the Texas and Kansas Indian Territory. Until 1858, Chisholm helped with many treaty councils. In 1858, Chisholm made his way back through the Indian Territory, while in the territory Chisholm rescued a few captive Mexican children from the Comanche and Kiowa Indian tribes. After getting through the Indian Territory Chisholm and his wife Eliza adopted the children as there own. During the Civil War, from 1861 to1864, Chisholm served the Confederate Army as an Indian trader. But by 1864 he started acting as an interpreter for the Union Army and he made his home in Wichita, Kansas. At this time in 1864, was when the Chisholm Trail had been created. Chisholm and James R. Mead, led a wagon train from Fort Leavenworth, traveled through the Indian Territory and created a trading post in Council Grove. By the year 1867, Chisholm was able to get the Indian tribes in the area to meet with the government and sign a treaty, which was known as the Medicine Lodge Treaty. Chisholm continued his trading and selling of goods, hunting, guiding, and scouting till March 4, 1868, where he died from food poisoning. The Potter Bacon Trail The trail was founded by Jack Potter in 1883, when he drove 3,000 head of cattle to

Alfred T. Bacon. The Potter-Bacon Trail started in Hebbronville, Texas. The trail started following The Great Western Trail but branched off and headed for Colorado. The end of the trail was first at Las Animas, Colorado, and later on Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the 3,000 head of cattle were supposed to be delivered. The Potter-Bacon Trail was shorter than the Great Western Trail, and it crossed more barren land; this meant the land was very dry and there was little vegetation for the cattle to eat or water to drink. This trail was not used by very many ranchers do to it led to a railhead that was much farther away than any of the other trails. This led to the trail ending in 1889. The Shawnee Trail The Shawnee trail, or also known as the Texas Road, the Sedalia Trail, or the Kansas Trail, was a trade and emigrant route that went from Texas to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. The Shawnee Trail was founded around 1840 and was founded on old military and Indian trails. The Shawnee Trail crossed the Red River and followed along the edge of Oklahoma. By June of 1853, 3,000 head of cattle were trailed on the Shawnee Trail through Western Missouri. But many ranchers and farmers started to set up barricades to block of the ranchers from Texas due to an outbreak of Texas Fever. By 1855, Missouri Legislature banned disease cattle from coming in or through the state. During the Civil War in 1861, the Shawnee Trail was not used, but after the Civil War in 1865 the trail started to become in use again. But there was still a problem with the Texas Fever. Some ranchers were making their way on the trail, but many turned back. Many of the Texas cattlemen changed their direction on the trial and sold their cattle. Once this was heard of, a man named James M. Daugherty was caught. In 1865, Daugherty was working for James Adams who had him drive 500 head of cattle to Sedalia,

Missouri, then to the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Daugherty crossed the Red River and went through Arkansas Mountains to Fort Smith. Daugherty did this so he would miss the Indians and not have to pay a toll. Daugherty had made it to the Missouri-Kansas border when he was attacked by Jayhawkers. The Jayhawkers stampeded the herd, shot and killed one of the drovers, and tied Daugherty to a tree. Dougherty was able to get untied and was then able to recover around 350 head of the cattle and and sold the cattle in Fort Scott, Kansas, for a profit. By the end of this time the railroads grew large and far and there was no more need to drive the cattle to the railheads. Texas Fever In June of 1868, Texas Fever or some other common names: Texas Cattle Fever, Spanish Fever, and Splenic of Splenetic Fever. It first broke out among cattle in Illinois. The disease was spread by tick infested longhorns from herds that were being driven North. It was not till 1885 that the outbreak started to cause a major problem between the states. This led to many quarantines. The quarantines helped keep cattle away from settlements and spreading the disease. By 1885, Kansas outlawed the cattle drives completely through the state. This led to many other states quarantining and not allowing cattle to pass which ended the twenty-year span of the cattle drive trails. No one thought that it was ticks causing the problems, many thought that longhorns were eating poisonous plant that they were immune to. The toxic plants created a toxic waste that other cattle were ingesting and then getting the disease. By 1893, bacteriologists Robert Koch, and Louis Pasteur discovered how to isolate the Texas Fever pathogen. The bacteriologist were able to understand that the disease was caused by microscopic protozoan that destroy or limit the red blood cells. But it was not until this time that the bacteriologists discovered that the disease was spread by ticks. The ticks were able to spread the disease because they would drop off the

longhorns into the grasses and would lay eggs. Once the eggs hatched, tick offspring collected on other cattle that were passing or other animals. This is what caused the outbreak of Texas Fever. Cattle Drives of the Great Plains discusses the trails that were used to push cattle to the rail heads throughout the 1860s and some parts of the 1870s. The Good Night Loving Trail, The Western Trail, The Chisholm Trail, The Potter Bacon Trail, and The Shawnee Trail were all used for a great purpose. The purpose was to feed the world while also making a profit. After the Civil War in 1865, a great way to make money was to become a cattle baron of the West and drive cattle to the railheads where they were sold in a higher market. Even though the Cattle Drives were diminished, they were activities that people to used to make a life, and many of these trails are still driven today on highways across the Great Plains. Works Consulted Brown, Dee. 1994. The American West, Charles Scribner s Sons, Pages 42-58. Bronw, Dee. 1952. Trail Driving Days, Charles Scribner s Sons, Pages 1-254 Dary, David. 2001. The Santa Fe Trail, Alfred A. Knope, Pages 55-92, 277-312 Dorth, Steven D. 2009. Chisholm Trail, Oklahoma Historical Society. Haygood, Tamora Miner. 2010. Texas Fever, Handbook of Texas Online. Haywood, C. Robert. 2010. Potter Blocker Trail, Handbook of Texas Online. Kansas Historical Society. 2011. Chisholm Trail.

Kansas Historical Trails. 1993. Chisholm Trail History. Kansas Historical Society. 2011. Jesse Chisholm Love, Clara M. 1916. History of the Cattle Industry in the Southwest, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly19. Pages 370-399. Richardson, T. C. 2010. Chisholm, Jesse, Handbook of Texas Online. Skaggs, Jimmy M. 2010. Great Western Trail, Handbook of Texas Online. Skaggs, Jimmy M. 2010. Lytle, John Thomas, Handbook of Texas Online. Tyson, Carl N. 2009. Shawnee Trail, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Tyson, Carl N. 2009. Texas Fever, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Wayne, Gard. 2010. Shawnee Trail, Handbook of Texas online. Weiser, Kathy. 2017. Charles Goodnight-Blazing the Cattle Trails, Legends of America. Weiser, Kath. 2017. Jesse Chisholm-Blazing a Trail, Legends of America. Weiser, Kathy. 2017. Oliver Loving-Pioneer Cowboy, Legends of America. Weiser, Kathy. 2017. The Chisholm Trail-Herding the Cattle, Legends of America. Weiser, Kathy. 2017. The Goodnight-Loving Trail, Legends of America. Weiser, Kathy. 2017. The Shawnee Trail-Driving Longhorns to Missouri, Legends of America. Worcester, Donald E. 2010. Chisholm Trail, handbook of Texas Online.