Trailing Cattle - A Short History Part 3

In 1858, amidst the historic Lincoln - Douglas debates, Oliver Loving, from Palo Pinto County, Texas and a neighbor, John Durkee, drove their herds to Illinois and sold the stock at a considerable profit. However other Texas drovers would not fare so well that year. A new outbreak of Texas fever left thousand of local cattle dead in Missouri and once again the Missouri farmers took it upon themselves to turn back Texas cattle using force when needed. The Missouri situation caused many Texas drovers to take a new route skirting the eastern edge of Kansas to reach Kansas City or other points north. But the Kansas reprieve was short-lived as thousands of Kansas cattle soon became stricken with Texas fever. In 1859, the Kansas Territorial Legislature passed a protective act that prohibited cattle from Texas, Arkansas, and Indian stock from entering specific counties from June to November. Some Texas drovers treated the law with contempt thus forcing Kansas farmers to organize rifle companies to deal with the Texans and their cattle.

 By August of 1861, Pres. Lincoln forbade any trade with the South. Coupled with the number of Texans fighting for the Confederacy, (almost all outside of Texas), the state of the cattle business fell into a steep decline. Neglected herds now roamed over large portions of the state and calves would go unbranded for the ensuing war years. And for the trailing that did go on during the war, the majority of herds were driven to the East Coast to feed Confederate soldiers. A few notable Texas cowmen who supplied cattle for the south were John S. Chisum, Oliver Loving, and Jesse L. Driskill. But for a the majority of trailers , the war exacted a heavy toll as the profitable northern markets were now unavailable. But at war's end, a few forward-thinking men would see a fortune on the horizon. Those unbranded calves, now called mavericks, were seen to be a source of profit to the cowman who caught and branded them.

J. Frank Dobie always said the word had only two syllables and that a genuine Texan pronounced it: mav-rick. One legend has it that the word originated by the fact that Samuel Maverick would not brand or earmark any of his herd. His neighbors, however took to branding not only their cattle but his as well. This did not prevent Samuel from claiming any slick eared animal belonged to his herd. Over time, when observing a slick-ear, folks would say, "There goes one of Mr. Maverick's animals. Later, when observing any unbranded animal anywhere, the saying became: "There goes a Mav-rick." Another legend holds that the word comes from the name of a drover who lost his herd in a snowstorm. The cattle became so scattered that regrouping the animals became impossible. The off-spring of the scattered herd became known as Maverick's cattle.

 

By 1866, the push to trail cattle north resumed in Texas. Estimates from the time suggest as many as 300,000 head were trailed for northern markets that spring. But two cowmen decided they would follow a westward direction out of the state. The two, Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight, combined their herds along the upper reaches of the Brazos River with the intent on moving them to the Rockies. However, there was one problem...Comanche lands blocked a direct route to Colorado. The two solved the problem by following the old Butterfield Stage Line through Buffalo Gap and then down to present day San Angelo.
From there they headed for Horsehead Crossing and the Pecos River. The cowmen then drove for Fort Sumner, NM. Of the 1000 steers they started with, 300 were lost by the time they reached Fort Sumner, but the NM market was willing to pay .08 a pound on foot. After selling all of their steers, 700 cows and calves remained. Loving trailed these north to Denver, while Goodnight rode back to Texas to gather another herd. In 1867, Loving followed the route and was attacked by Indians. The wounds he received eventually resulted in his death at Fort Sumner in September of that year.

Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011

Trailing Cattle - A Short History Part 1

In 1521, 28 years after Christopher Columbus landed the first Spanish cattle on Hispaniola. Gregorio de Villalobos transported a number of generational offspring from the original Hispaniola herd to New Spain. (Current day Mexico) In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján gathered 500 of Villalobos' original herd to supply food for his grandiose expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Cíbola. Along the way, Coronado left cattle in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.

In 1690, General Alonso De León helped establish San Francisco de los Tejas, the first Spanish mission in East Texas. In doing so, he led four expeditions using what would become known as the Old San Antonio Road. During these explorations he crossed and named the Guadalupe River, the Medina River, the Nueces River, and the Trinity River. At each river crossing, De León left a bull and a cow. Left to propagate at will, these self-dependent, prolific breeders soon were as numerous as buffalo on the Southern Plains and throughout the South Texas brush. These cattle, were called Criollo by the Spanish. The Criollo had their roots in the desert country of Andulusia, Spain, and they flourished in the South Texas climate.

 

The secret Treaty of Velasco (May 1836) granted Texas the land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River as a part of the new republic. This disputed piece of real estate would become the stronghold of some 1.5 million cattle. In this vast stretch of no-man's land, a nursery if you will, a new cross-bred animal began to appear. This animal, a mixture of Cirollo and European introduced cattle, was highly adaptable to its environ. It did well in brush or swamp, with plentiful grass or rustling during drought. The animal, the Longhorn, evolved to run through the brush like an antelope, swim wide rivers, fight off wolves or coyotes, and although Spanish by origin, it became unmistakeably Texan. Texas Historian, J. Frank Dobie, said of this animal, "It is the peer of the bison and grizzly bear." By 1837, between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, the hunting of wild cattle by both Mexican and Texans became a regular business.

Many people believe that trailing cattle (as it was called in its infancy) originated after the Civil War, when a lone Texas herd headed for some vague point north of the 36th parallel. But as a matter of record, on April 21, 1836, the same day that Sam Houston and a bunch of Texans whipped the Mexican army, a herd of Texas longhorns from Taylor White's ranch west of the Neches River was trailing for New Orleans. And cattle had been trailed out of Texas even before that. Through the 'forties Texans trailed cattle north into Missouri and also to Louisiana markets. Beginning in 1850, thousands of steers were driven across the continent to California.

Mike Kearbys Texas  Copyright 2011