The Quirt and the Spur, by Edgar Rye
Far out beyond the confines of civilization, far out where daring men took possession of the hunting ground of the Indians and killed herds of buffalo to make a small profit in pelts, leaving the carcass to putrefy and the bones to bleach on the prairies. Far out where cattlemen disputed over the possession of mavericks, and the branding iron was the only evidence of ownership. Far out where a cool head backed the deadly six-shooter and the man behind the gun, with a steady aim and a quick trigger, won out in the game where life was staked upon the issue. Far out, where the distant landscape melted into the blue horizon, and a beautiful mirage was painted on the skyline. Far out where the weary, thirsty traveler camped overnight near a deep water hole, while nearby in the green valley, a herd of wild horses grazed unrestrained by man’s authority.
Far out where the coyote wolves yelped in unison as they chased a jackrabbit in a circle of death, then fought over his remains in a bloody feast. Far out where the gray Lobo wolf and the mountain lion stalked their prey, killed and gorged their fill until the light in the east warned them to seek cover in their mountain lairs.
Far out where bands of red warriors raided the lonely ranch house, killing, burning, and pillaging, leaving a trail of blood and ashes behind them as a sad warning to the white man to beware of the Indian's revenge.
Far out into this wonderful country of great possibilities, where the sun looked down upon a scene of rare beauty.
Far out where bands of red warriors raided the lonely ranch house, killing, burning, and pillaging, leaving a trail of blood and ashes behind them as a sad warning to the white man to beware of the Indian's revenge.
Far out into this wonderful country of great possibilities, where the sun looked down upon a scene of rare beauty.
Cattle Drives, Cowboys & Cattle Towns
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Western history of the 1870s and 1880s was primarily written in five states, including Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. The first of the states was Texas, the starting point from which the turbulence and lawlessness subsequently prevailed in the states to the North and west of her boundaries. In Texas, the first cattle were assembled and later driven across the Chisholm and the lesser cattle trails towards the railroad junctions in the North. During this period, Kanas was the terminus point for most of these cattle driven from Texas. From these historical occurrences of the first cattle trails from Texas to Kansas, it could be said that the West was born in Texas and raised in Kansas.
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The characteristics of the longhorn are of spectacular color, with shadings and combinations so varied that no two are alike. They reach maximum weight in eight or ten years and range from 800 to 1500 pounds. Although slow to mature, their reproductive period is twice as long as that of other breeds. Most longhorn cows and bulls have horns of four feet or less. However, mature steers have an average span of six feet or more, and a 15-year-old's horn span reaches up to nine feet. J Frank Dobie thus pictured a herd of Texas Longhorns:
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Tall, bony, coarse-headed, coarse-haired, flat-sided, thin-flanked, some of them grotesquely narrow-hipped, some with bodies so long that their backs swayed, big ears cawed into out outlandish designs, dewlaps hanging and swinging in rhythm with their energetic steps, their motley-colored sides as bold with brands as a relief map of the Grand Canyon--mightily antlered, wild-eyed, this herd of full-grown Texas steers might appear to a stranger seeing them for the first time as a parody of their kind. But however they appeared, with their steel hoofs, their long legs, their stag-like muscles, their thick skins, their powerful horns, they could climb the highest mountains, swim the widest rivers, fight off the fiercest bands of wolves, endure hunger, cold, thirst and punishment as few beasts of the earth have ever shown themselves capable of enduring.
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On the prairies, they could run like antelopes; in the thickets of thorn and tangle, they could break their way with the agility of panthers. They could rustle in drought or snow, smell out pasturage leagues away, live--without talking about the matter-like true captives of their own souls and bodies.
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Joseph McCoy was born December 21, 1837, in Sangamon County, Illinois, to David and Mary (Kirkpatrick) McCoy. McCoy spent a couple of years at Knox College in Galesburg. He married Sarah Epler on October 22, 1861. They had five children. In 1861 McCoy began to work in the mule and cattle industry. At the close of the Civil War, McCoy expanded his enterprise by buying animals in large quantities and shipping them to major livestock centers. After expanding his business to shipping large herds of cattle to slaughter, he quickly recognized flaws in the system. An average of longhorns in Texas caused their value to be only three to four dollars a head. In cities like Chicago, they were worth $30 to $40 a head. McCoy began to develop a transportation system that would send cattle north to more profitable markets. In 1867, he joined a firm that shipped as many as a thousand cattle a week.
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In 1867 an Illinois cattle shipper named Joseph G. McCoy arrived upon a plan to revitalize the cattle industry. This young man conceived the idea of opening an outlet for Texan cattle. Being impressed with the knowledge of the number of cattle in Texas and the difficulties of getting them to market by the routes and means then in use, and realizing the significant disparity between Texas values and Northern prices of cattle, he set himself to thinking and studying to hit upon some plan whereby these great extremes would be equalized. The goal was to establish at some accessible point a depot or market to which a Texan drover could bring his stock unmolested, and there, failing to find a buyer, he could go upon the public highways to any market in the country he wished. In short, it was to establish a market at which the Southern drover and Northern buyer would meet upon an equal footing and both be undisturbed by mobs or swindling thieves... Wild West Podcast presents Cattle Drives, Cowboys, and Cattle Towns: Part 2 Joseph G. McCoy and the Cattle Industry of the 1800s. Stay with us after this episode as we explore the plausibility of the cattle trade and ask the question, what would have happened to the westward expansion if the cattle trade industry had never existed?
"All over the land are vast and handsome pastures, with good grass for cattle . . .” A grass that moved as a heaven-weaved quilt of the earth, as if by root and stem, stood in protection of a hardy breed of livestock known as the Longhorn. Wild West Podcast proudly presents Trails, Cattle Drives, Cowboys, and Cattle Towns, Part 1: The Longhorn. Please join us at the end of the podcast as we review some interesting facts about the characteristics of the longhorn.
Cattle Trails
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When the first herds were taken north in the early l840s, they reversed the trek, opening a trail to the railheads in Missouri. Newspapers referred to the route as the Sedalia Trail or the cattle trail. No one knows why it was called the Shawnee Trail; however, the route passed by a Shawnee village in north Texas near the Shawnee Hills in Indian Territory. By the late l850s, the name was in general use. In the 1840s, during the Mexican War, the trail was used almost constantly during the summer months. The gold rush in California increased demand for cattle after l848, and the Shawnee Trail was heavily used for several years. By the mid-1850s, Kansas City, Missouri, was the largest stock market in the west, and the Texas cattle trailing industry was well established.
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The Shawnee Trail was the first major route used by the cattle trailing industry to deliver longhorns to the markets of the Midwest. Longhorns were collected around San Antonio, Texas, and taken northward through Austin, Waco, and Dallas, crossing the Red River near Preston, Texas, at Rock Bluff. Here at the emanation of this point of the trail provided a place forming a natural chute that forced the cattle together at the ford, and a gradual rise on the north bank made it easy to exit the river. In fact, many drovers were killed at the very beginning of the drive at the Red River. There were four crossings: Rock Rock River Crossing, Red River Station, Doan's Crossing, and Ringgold. Andy Adams described Doan's Crossing:
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"Red River, this boundary river on the northern border of Texas, was a terror to trail drivers. The majestic grandeur of the river was apparent on every hand, with its red bluff banks, the sediment of its red waters marking the timber along its course, while the driftwood, lodged in trees and high on the banks, indicated what might be expected when she became sportive or angry.
The crossing had been in use only a year or two when we forded, yet five graves, one of which was less than ten days made, attested her disregard for human life. It can safely be asserted that at this and lower trail crossings on Red River, the lives of more trail men were lost by drowning than on all other rivers together.” |
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C. H. Rust of San Angelo, Texas, stated in an article written for the book, The Trail Drivers of Texas by J. Marvin Hunter that he thought the Chisholm Trail started at San Antonio, to Abilene, Kansas; a distance of about 650 miles.
"The old Chisholm Trail started at San Antonio and ended at Abilene, Kansas. From San Antonio, it went to New Braunfels, then to San Marcos, crossing the San Marcos River about four miles below town, then to Austin, crossing the Colorado River about three miles below Austin. Leaving Austin, the trail wound its way on to the right of Round Rock, thence, to the right of Georgetown, to the right of Belton, to old Fort Graham, crossing the Brazos River to the left of Cleburne, then to Fort Worth, winding its way to the right of Fort Worth, crossing the Trinity River just below town. From Fort Worth, the next town was Elizabeth, and from there to Bolivar; here, the old Trail forked, but the main trail went up to St. Jo and north to Red River Station." |
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From 1867 to 1889, the two most prominent cattle trails in Texas were the Western Trail, also known as the Fort Griffin-Dodge City Trail, and the Eastern Trail, also known as the Chisholm Trail. To confuse matters further, the Chisholm Trail has also been historically referred to as the Abilene, Caldwell, Cattle, Great Texas Cattle, Kansas, and McCoy's Trail. Still, Texas historians acknowledge that the names of these trails do not resonate as loudly within American history or attract as much tourism as Chisholm Trail. To follow the history of the cattle trails, Joseph G. McCoy, a businessman, and entrepreneur, is credited with the extension of the trail as far south as Brownsville, Texas, which became known as the Chisholm trail. The first cattle trail was named after Jesse Chisholm, a Scotch-Cherokee fur trader who forged a route from Wichita, Kansas, to the North Canadian River. The Chisholm Trail became popularized in American history through songs, stories, mythical tales, radio, television, and movies. To this day, historians and enthusiasts debate various aspects of the Chisholm Trail's history, especially the route and name. Wild West Podcast proudly presents Cattle Trails and the Men who Founded Them. Stay with us after this episode as Mike and I explore; Why historians continue to debate the true names of the early trials.
Cowboy Culture
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For twenty years, it was the ambition of every Texas cowboy to go up the trail. Wages were about $30.00 per month. Sometimes the cowboys were paid slightly more if they furnished their own horses. Trail life was hard. Cowboys usually had to work fifteen to eighteen hours a day; twenty-four hours if they had a bad night with restless cattle, and then they had to work the next day just as though they had slept all night. The trail boss took the position that they could sleep all next winter.
The men would even put tobacco in their eyes to stay awake. A cowhand never thought of trying to collect overtime or calling for shorter hours and more pay. In view of all of the hardships and dangers of trail life, why did they want to go up the trail? A cowboy did not feel that he had graduated in his art until he had made a northern drive. Many of them went year after year. From the end of the Civil War until the mid-1880s, tens of thousands of cowboys rode the cattle trails. Of course, not all cowhands made the trek northward, but as one Lockhart drover put it, a man did not graduate from cowboy school until he "lit out" on at least one long ride. |
Cattle Drives
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Cattle drives were led by a trail boss, whose job it was to hire the other cowboys for the drive, plan the route (making sure they would have sources of water), locate campsites, and lead his cattle north. One cowboy was hired for every 250 to 300 head of cattle; this meant that a typical herd of 2,000 to 3,000 longhorns would require eight to twelve cowboys. The cowboys looked after the animals on the trail, kept them moving along the trail, and tried to prevent them from breaking into a stampede. The cook, usually an older cowboy, often called the Old Lady, was one of the most important members of a cattle drive crew. A good cook kept the cowboys happy with good "grub," tended wounds, and took care of other domestic duties.
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He was the second-highest-paid member of the crew behind the trail boss. The lowest-paid member of the crew was the wrangler, a younger cowboy who looked after the herd of workhorses. A herd on the trail moved about ten miles a day. Leading the way were the trail boss and the cook with his chuck wagon. To the side of the herd rode most of the cowboys, who kept wandering cattle from separating from the rest of the herd. Bringing up the rear, and eating the dust of several thousand shuffling cattle, were the drag men. Cowboys joked that the drag was where a cowboy learned to curse. Wild West Podcast proudly presents Cattle Drives, Cowboys, and Cattle Towns, Part 5: The Cattle Drive.
Each cowhand had specific duties. Several highly skilled cowhands, known as pointers, also called point rider or lead rider, rode at the side of the lead cattle to direct the herd. The point man who rides near the front of the herd determines the direction, controls the speed, and gives the cattle something to follow. Larger herds sometimes necessitate the use of two-point men. A privileged position on the drive, this job is reserved for more experienced hands who know the country through which they are traveling.
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The Chuck Wagon
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At roundup time or on a five-month trail drive that covered 1500 miles, the chuck wagon was an essential piece of equipment in the cattle industry, and the cook was the most important person. More than any other man, the cook ensured the men were happy and productive. Without good food, men would quit, and the work would not get done. So it was well said among the cowboys before mealtime.
Feeding cowboys on long drives to northern cattle markets required planning and ingenuity. Early drovers usually packed food, bedding, and gear on horses or mules and had to cook for themselves. Their meager and monotonous fare consisted of biscuits or cornbread, salted or dried meat, occasional wild game, and coffee. |
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Historians credit rancher and drover Charles Goodnight with inventing the chuck wagon in 1867. The first chuck wagon was used in 1867 on a trail drive from central Texas to New Mexico. Charles Goodnight purchased an army surplus ammunition wagon with iron axles and had the legs of a clerk’s writing desk. Travelers' portable writing desks and mess chests may have inspired Goodnight to attach a hinged wooden cupboard to a wagon for food preparation on the trail. When unfolded, the cover of this "chuck box" formed a working surface with access to shelves and drawers filled with staples, spices, utensils, and medicine. |
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The Chuck Wagons' distinctive feature was the chuck box, a 4' x 3' box two to three feet deep located on the rear of the wagon. A board, hinged at the bottom of the box, folded down to form a work table. The box was divided into cubbyholes and drawers for small amounts of food, medicines, eating utensils, cooking equipment, tobacco, and perhaps whiskey. Elsewhere they tucked a Dutch oven, skillets, a water barrel, flour, horseshoeing equipment, branding irons, tools, and bedrolls: everything needed to care for the cowboys and keep them happy and working.
Hazards on the Trail
Driving cattle over the various trails was by no means an easy or unassailable task. The cowboy was forced to cope with the perils of the frontier. These perils included terrible roads, rough weather, cattle stampedes, and requiring men to pass through Indian Territory to reach their destinations. In addition, the Indians encountered often demanded tributes from the cowboy as compensation for being allowed to traverse their lands. Wild West Podcast proudly presents. Hazards on the Trail Part 1: Big Blue, Firefox, and River Crossings. Make sure you stay with us after today's podcast as Mike and I discuss the unwritten rules of the cowboy on the trail.
As much as we like to romanticize cattle drives, they were more complicated than we imagined. Hours were long, food was monotonous, horses were bad, cattle were worse, and sleep was hard to come by. Yet, despite the hardships, many young men during the second half of the 19th century answered the call for trail hands. The allure of trailing thousands of cattle over wild lands and visiting far-off cattle towns like Abilene, Dodge City, and Elsworth was too much to resist. Like most adventures, the extended drive had a mix of hot sun, dust storms, thunderous rain, and treacherous river crossings, along with merriment and peril. Follow us now as we look at some cowboy tales describing the dangers of a cattle drive. While these cowboy experiences cannot give us a complete look at every threat the cowboy faces, they should paint a general picture that will help us understand the known hazards. No matter which direction the drives took, they all faced roughly the same set of perils: stampedes, river crossings, and Indian attacks.
