The Great Western Cattle Trail, or Western Trail, Fort Griffin Trail, Dodge City Trail, Northern Trail and Texas Trail, has a rich and storied history which is very much a part of THE UNITED STATES. They helped the work cattle drives of the late 19th century push millions of cattle and horses from Texas to markets in the north and east United States. The goal of this blog post is to offer a complete guide of the Great Western Cattle Trail, its long history, importance, and what it left as a heritage.
Introduction
The Great Western Cattle Trail was defined in 1874 by Captain John T. Lytle, who carried 3,500 longhorn cattle from southern Texas to Nebraska on the first journey along the route. Within the three bars (railroad tracks), the trail became one of the most traveled roads in the U.S. in the next two decades, with estimates of six to seven million cattle and one million horses crossing over.
Historical Context
The Need for Cattle Trails
In the years after the Civil War, Texas was long on cattle and short on customers at home. The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad offered cattle men the possibility of such long-distance shipping to previously inaccessible northern and eastern U.S. beef markets. The Shawnee Trail and the Chisholm Trail were trails that were utilized when cattle were moved but soon, were no longer feasible when settlements moved west and railroads were built.
Establishment of the Trail
John T. Lytle was the first to do it, marking the path beyond the western edge of settlement, stretching from Texas grazing ranges to Fort Robinson, Nebraska in 1874. This new trail, called the Great Western Cattle Trail, soon became the favored route of cattle drives to Kansas and Nebraska railheads.
Route of the Great Western Cattle Trail
Most often, the trail’s starting point was Bandera, Texas, while its destination was Dodge City, Kansas. Running just north of the Texas prairies, the entire trail extended from southern Texas to the Canadian border taking in such key points as Kerrville, Fort Griffin, Doan’s Crossing, and Ogallala, Nebraska.
Key Landmarks
- Doan’s Crossing, or The Edge of the Frontier- The “jumping off place”; last stopping place for supplies before entering Indian Territory This was a lively place that provided cowboys with what they needed to hit the trail like supplies, guns, and food to take with them on the long road ahead.
- Dodge City, Kansas: Known as the “cowboy capital of the world,” Dodge City was one of the major railheads where cattle were shipped north and east to the Chicago stockyards.
- Ogallala, Nebraska: Like Junction, Ogallala was a major railhead and a frequent stop for cattle drives headed up north for the open range ranches in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana.
The Cattle Drive Experience
Life on the Trail
This made a normal cattle drive on the Great Western Cattle Trail involved a team of no less than ten cowboys were required, three horses for each man. Traveling at 10-12 miles per day, it would take two months to go from South Texas to Kansas. The cows needed to rest and feed in the middle of the day and at night in order to keep them from losing weight and making them worthless.
Challenges and Dangers
Cattle drives were difficult and dangerous and cattle drive.
- Stampede: Lightning strikes are the most common reason, however cattle could run from an animal, person, sight, noise or smell to be spooked Cowboys had to be judicious of this herd to avoid or stop stampedes.
- Indian Territory: Native American tribes who lived in the area. Many times the trail was able to be used through treaties signed by these tribes allowing cattle access to these lands to graze. While these exchanges were sometimes strained, they more often than not resulted in good-will agreements.
- Barbed Wire and Quarantines- The arrival of barbed wire fences and quarantines for Texas Fever, a disease transmitted by ticks, essentially devastated the cattle drives. These, both factors as well as settlement of the frontier, contributed to the decline of the Great Western Cattle Trail by the early 1890s.
The Legacy of the Great Western Cattle Trail
Economic Impact
A major link in keeping the United States cattle economy up and running was the Great Western Cattle… It opened a path on which millions of head of cattle could travel to the northern markets, and Chicago, the largest meat processor in the nation, started its journey to growth.
Cultural Significance
The trail is a continuing reminder of the American West and the raw ingenuity and the tenacity of the early Texans. The American cowboy of the 19th-century American West was a fictional fodder composed by the people of the time and had nothing to do with the life of the historical cowboy of the 19th century.
Remembering and Restoring
Commemorative work on the Great Western Cattle Trail began in the 1930s, with the placing of markers along the trail at places such as Doan’s Crossing. A project was started in 2003 to lay down cement markers every six to ten miles along the trail to help people get a general idea of it’s route.
Great Western Cattle Trail and the Effect on Native American Tribes
The Great Western Cattle Trail also cut through lands of Native American tribes, including the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache as well as other tribes. The encounter between cattle drives and Native American tribes was a major historical social, economic and cultural event.
Responsive and Adaptive Economic dealings
Cattle drives bought economic change for Native American tribes as well. Many tribes, nonetheless, turned to cattle herding themselves, or traded with cowboys. For example, the Comanche negotiated cattle in return for access to their lands. This created a new food and trade base for tribes whose primary food base, the buffalo, was gone.
Conflicts and Resolutions
Interactions ranged from peaceful and mutually beneficial, to contentious violence. The intrusion of cattle drovers onto Indian land sometimes resulted in conflicts over grazing and water resources. Tribes, in some cases, traded the right to use their lands for payment in cattle, and those who ignored this right risked being raided or subject to a violent cattle stampede But significant figures like Quanah Parker worked to keep the peace through deals that in some way worked out a peaceful space for cowboys to share with their ‘politely dispossessed’ counterparts.
Downfall & Influence of the Great Western Cattle Trail
After this period, the Great Western Cattle Trail lost much of its business and by the end of the 19th century it has pretty much faded into history, but the shadow it casts, the legacy it has left, is remembered and celebrated to this day.
Causes of the Decline
The Great Western Cattle Trail would fall prey to several causes for its downfall:
- Barbed Wire: The invention of barbed wire fencing in the 1880s limited the open range, which had previously allowed cattle drives to cross over sheer expanses of land.
- Quarantine Laws: To respond to Texas Fever ticks on Texas cattle, laws were passed to forbid the transport of cattle over state borders.
- Growing Railroads: As railroads expanded into Texas, cattle drives were farced to dwindle due to the unproblematic nature in which the introduction of rail lines facilitated cattle transportation to markets.
Monument and Legacy
It represented a place in time, however brief, and for that, the Great Western Cattle Trail more than made its mark on history. When the trail was commemmorated, markers were placed along the route and events like the Seymour Rodeo and Reunion were celebrated. This trail is also celebrated as having an influence on cowboy culture, which played a vital role in American history. There are still stories of the trail, of the cowboys, and of their relationships with Native Americans that have since then remained an object of both public imagination and cultural honor.
FAQs
what was the Great Western Cattle Trail?
Railroads, more than rivers, threatened the drives that followed the Great Western route from North Texas out across Oklahoma, and into the former cowtowns of Kansas and Nebraska in the late 19th century.
Who Developed The Extended High Cattle Trail?
Captain John T. Lytle blazed the trail in 1874 while leading 3,500 longhorn cattle from southern Texas to Nebraska.
What caused the demise of the Great Western Cattle Trail?
The file dropped due to the use of barbed wire fencing the spread of quarantine laws to control Texas Fever and the slow spread of the railroads which were much more efficient means of transporting cattle.
Great Western Cattle Trail In a given year, how many head of cattle were driven up the Great Western Cattle Trail?
Between 1874 and the early 1890s an estimated six to seven million head of cattle also one million horses were driven north over the trail from Texas to northern markets.
Conclusion
The Great Western Cattle Trail is evidence of this fortitude of the American cowboy. It had been instrumental in the cattle industry and in the settlement in the American West. Visitors today can pay homage to the significance of the trail and remember those who travelled across its expanse. All provide a fascinating reading for history buffs The proper studies, because in the end, that what these articles amount to, are designed to entertain.Look at the Great Western Cattle Trail – you whether are a history buff, a closet cowboy or simply wanting a history lesson of the past!
