Breeds of The Chisholm Trail
The great cattle trail from Texas to the Kansas railheads, driven by millions of Longhorns between the late 1860s and the 1880s.
Breeds of this place
Best time: April to October.
After the American Civil War, Texas was full of half-wild Longhorn cattle and short of money, while cities in the north wanted beef. From 1867 drovers took herds north across Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, to the railways in Kansas. The route took its name from Jesse Chisholm, a trader of Scottish and Cherokee descent whose wagon road it followed in part.
Life on the trail
A typical herd of two or three thousand cattle was moved by about a dozen men, with a trail boss, a cook and a wrangler for the horses. They covered perhaps 15 to 25 kilometres a day, crossing rivers such as the Red and the Canadian. Many cowboys were Black, Mexican or Native American. The drives depended on open grass, and fences, railways and quarantines ended them by the mid 1880s.
Remembering the trail
Markers along the old route trace the trail through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center at Duncan, Oklahoma, tells the story of the drives. The breed that walked the trail, the Texas Longhorn, came close to disappearing in the early twentieth century and was saved by a few ranchers and a federal wildlife refuge.
A trail idea for The Chisholm Trail
- Chisholm Trail Heritage Center The museum of the trail at Duncan.
- Red River Station A main crossing of the Red River into Indian Territory.
- Trail markers Markers along the old route through Oklahoma.
Written by the EveryCow desk with AI assistance. Background: "Chisholm Trail" on Wikipedia. Fair dates, markets and visiting rules change; check locally before travelling, and keep a respectful distance from working animals. If something is wrong, tell us.
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