Trail Driving Prior to 1845

Trail Driving Prior to 1845. . Texas cattle trailing to Louisiana developed as a business in the Galveston/Houston area during the Spanish period (ending in 1821) and the Mexican period (1821-1836). The process continued under the Republic of Texas (1836-1845), when the "Texas Road" developed from Texas through Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to Missouri. The new, northerly overland trade increased in 1840 when the Republic of Texas established a military road on its entire western frontier, stretching from the Gulf coast to the Red River, the route approximates present-day I-35., In 1841 the route developed a branch known as Preston Road. Running from Preston Bend on the Red River to near Waco, Preston Road quickly became the primary overland route for emigrants moving south into Texas and for cattle and other goods moving north out of Texas. By the end of the Republic era in 1845 this route moved thousands of cattle out of Texas to markets in Missouri. That Preston Road is the same thoroughfare that brings you to this site., Trail Driving 1846-1860 , . After 1845, when Texas became a state, traffic along Preston Road significantly increased. An estimated 200,000 cattle traveled this route prior to the Civil War. During its heyday cattlemen seldom called it Preston Road. It was always the Trail, the Kansas Trail, or the Sedalia Trail. Finally, this most easterly of all the great cattle trails became known as the Shawnee Trail. How it got its name remains a mystery, but the name stuck., By the mid-1850s cattle movement along the Shawnee Trail became increasingly difficult, as armed bands of Missourians began stopping herds and sending them back to Texas. The Texas Longhorns carried "Texas fever," fatal to Missouri livestock, but to which longhorns were immune. By 1859 resistance from farmers along the trail and legal opposition from the state government had slowed cattle movement to a trickle., Trail Driving 1861-1866 , . Problems with Missouri farmers over Texas fever in the late 1850s slowed cattle movement over the Shawnee Trail. Then the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 closed all but essential traffic. With access to northern markets closed, no cattle were driven up the Shawnee Trail from 1861 through 1865., While war raged in the East, a surplus of cattle accumulated. At war's end a tremendous demand for beef arose in the North, creating a booming market for Texas cattle. In 1866 an estimated 200,000 to 260,000 steers headed north up the Shawnee Trail. Irate Missouri farmers once again resorted to legal action and even violence to stop trail driving through their region. A few herds reached their destination, but most were turned back or forced to make long and expensive detours around settled areas. By the end of 1866 Texas cattlemen were experiencing serious difficulty in getting their livestock to market., Trail Driving 1867-1890 , . Transportation problems to northern markets eased in 1867 when the Chisholm Trail was established. Along it, cattle moved from Texas to the newly built Kansas Pacific Railway town of Abilene, Kansas. Between 1867 and 1877 the legendary Chisholm Trail, running from South Texas northward through Fort Worth and across present day Oklahoma, delivered more than 2,000,000 head of cattle., By 1875 a route called the Western Trail developed. It also began in South Texas but trended to the west, crossing the Red River at Doan's Store, some 150 miles west of the Chisholm. The Western ended at Dodge City. Many of those herds were driven on to ranges in the Dakotas and Montana. By the late 1880s more than 1,000,000 cattle had traveled the Western Trail., The 1890s witnessed the end of long trail drives. Railroads like the MKT, which entered Texas along the general route of the old Shawnee Trail, provided a better method of transporting livestock out of the Lone Star State.