Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1911-12-21
SOME NEW INCIDENTS OF
THE OLD CATTLE DAYS.

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ness in the Southwest" is Joseph
la. Mccoy Of Wichita, Kan. When
Texas cattle were Of SO little value
that seventy-five full grown, fax
steers could be bought for a saddle
and one hundred could be bought
for wagon, when Texas steer
had no money value at all, for the
reason that there was no way to get
them to an eastern market, Mccoy
devised and opened a way.
In the COS, when the Kansas Pa
cific railway, now the Union Pacific,
was building westward through Kan
sas, Mccoy conceived the idea OF
driving the herds Of Texas cattle up
through the Isdian Territory and
Kansas to the line Of that railway
and shipping them eastward by rail.
Abilene, Kan, at &5 an Acre.
When he talked of his plan TO
experienced cattlemen in Texas and
elsewhere they told him 1t could not
be done. When he persisted In car
rying out the plan they said he was
crazy. But he went ahead. he
bought the townsite Of Abilene, Kan,
for SIS an acre, he was the first may
or OF the town and appointed wild
Bill" Hickok town marshal, he laid
out the trail from Abilene southwest
into Texas; he built the stock yards
in Abilene, he brought the first herd
up over the long trail from Texas,
he shipped the first train load OF
cattle that went eastward out of
Kansas, and he saw 10 million head
of cattle, worth $50 million dollars,
20 over the trail that ninety-nine
out of one hundred men said was
impossible.
During the ten years before the
Civil war the herds of cattle in
Texas continued to increase much
faster than they could be marketed.
New Orleans and Mobile were the
only cities Of considerable size out
side of Texas, that consumed any of
her cattle, and the markets in those
cities were controlled by the Nor
gan line of steamers, that piled be-
tween them and the coast Of Texas.
To anyone outside Of the ship COM
pany such an enormous freight rate
was charged for the shipment Of cat
tie that 1t was prohibitive. And SO
the surplus cattle in Texas grew
greater and greater each year and
the price went down in proportion
as the supply increased,
Then came the Civil War, which
shut off the New Orleans and Mobile
market and walled in the state Of
Texas completely. The patrol Of
gunboats on the Mississippi river pre-
vented the taking OF herds across
there. In this period cattle In Texas
became so worthless that ranchmen
neglected them entirely and they
roamed the plains and continued to
Increase.
At the close OF the war the supply
Of northern and eastern cattle was
almost exhausted, having been used
in feeding the Union armies. There
was a great demand for cattle In
st. Louis, Chicago and the east, but
how to get them there was the prob
EN- In the winter and spring of
1866 several cattle men Of Texas
gathered large herds and in the sum-
ner started to drive them to Sc
lalia, NO., where they were to be
Jhipped east over the Missouri Pa
'ific railway. But none of these
herds ever reached their destination,
n crossing Southeastern Kansas and
Missouri the herds
we're always stampeded and stolen
~ bands Of ruffains and in some
ases the drovers were killed. James
4. Dougherty lost one thousand cat
lie In that way and barely escaped
With his own life.
dea In Cattle Transportation Born.
Mccoy and his two brothers were
n the cattle business in Springfield,
II. They knew Of the scarcity of
attic in their territory and Of the
ilenty in Texas. of the low price in
'exas and the high price north and
asst. The idea came to Joseph G.
lcCoy that If the Texas herds could
e driven north, west Of the settled
ountry, to the Kansas Pacific rail-
DAD, 1t would solve the problem be-
ause the herds would escape the
ands Of cattle thieves in the settle ,
rents. He made a trip west, over
be new Kansas Pacific road in 1866,
nd be decided that his plan was
sasible. He selected Abilene as the
,iiwav shinninE noint