The Cattle Drive

The Cattle Drive. . At the end of the civil war a huge glut of cattle, as many as 3 million, occupied lands in Texas. Markets to the north at the developing railheads and markets in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico afforded much higher prices than the $3 to $5 per head prices in Texas. A northern market and southern supply created the inevitable entrepreneurial response, the cattle drive. Herds of 1,000-2,000 head of cattle were driven from Texas to northern markets, traveling hundreds of miles at only 10-15 miles per day., For the drive, cattle dealers would hire a trail boss, cook, horse wranglers, cowboys and a guide to make the push to market. The cowboys, commonly called vaqueros (the Spanish word for cowboy), were often teen-aged boys who came from all walks of life. The cowboys were a mixture of civil war veterans, farmers, ranchers, Hispanics, Anglos and African Americans., Cowboys would work sunrise to sunset and often through the night. During the drive, they would use several horses a day, exchanging a tired ride for a fresh one to keep up the pace of the push. Through the night, cowboys would take turns on night watch, circling the herd to keep the cattle together and guard them from predators and rustlers., Food often was prepared around a campfire until Charles Goodnight introduced the chuckwagon in 1866. Goodnight modified a Civil War Army surplus wagon to carry a cooker, supplies and food for the camp cook to use as his kitchen. The wagon was named after its inventor.