The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-02
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, D. @.
WILL THE CATTLE TRAIL COME
RACEo

several hundred cattle rec GENTLY
reached this city, from a ranch hun
dreds of miles away, by the same
method that cattle were brought to
roads were built.
Altho a rail route was available, and
altho it would have gotten the cattle
| to market in a fraction of the time
they actually occupied in getting here,
| this herd was driven overland as mil
lions of cattle were driven in the
early days. Half a dozen cowboys,
with a pack outfikto carry their sup
| plies and beds, drifted the cattle
slowly across mountain and plain. let
| ting them Craze there every evening,
| riding herd upon them every night
TO guard against theft and stampede,
carrying out every detail of the tech
nique that was evolved when the
whole west was one vast open range
without a rail upon it.
1t was a restoration of an ancient
and picturesque scene, but it was not
] staged for any sentimental reason.
| These cattle were driven to market
| overland for the good practical reason
their destination for about one-fourth
of what it would have cost to ship
| them by rail. 1t looks as tho inordi-
nately high freight rates might bring
back into use the long TRAIL over
which the nations beef travelled to
than half century.
The cowboy is such typically and
additionally Yankee figure that many
Americans do not realize that the
American cattle business is really
Mexican in its origin and moved
slowly from the far south to the north.
In the early part of the last century
there were cattle in all of the west,
north of the Rio Grande. Down in Old
Mexico, on the other hand, there were
4 III. TrNa - r,T-T1
stock which had been introduced by
the Spaniards many generations be-
fore.
Meantime a hungry Yankee civil
lization was growing up in the eastern
half of the continent. Cattle were
raised on the eastern farms, but not
nearly enough of them to feed this
growing nation. Enterprising Yankees
down in the southwest began to see that
there was a future in the raising of
cattle in the west for sale in the east.
Accordingly they began stealing the
across the Rio Grande and founding
herds of their own in Texas. They
not only found it easy to steal cattle,
but they also found-that when these
cattle were brought north they grew
larger and fatter than ever they had
on the hot southern ranges.
When Beef Was Cheap.
easy to raise them, but reaching the
market was another matter. At
tempts were made to drive them
across to Louisiana and sell them, and
also to ship them from Gulf ports to
eastern markets, but all of these at.
tempts failed. When the Civil war
broke out the plains of Texas were
Swarming with cattle for which there
was no market. Their owners had I'M
limited beef but very little money
You could buy a cow for a dollar.
During the war these herds were
forgotten and multiplied untended-
After the war the plains Sswarmed
with unbranded cattle worth little or
nothing. Men of foresight hired cow
boys and began rounding up and
branding this wild stock. 1t was ex-
citing business, for the cattle were as
wild as deer. A COW or calf belonged
to the man who could put his brand
on it first. Incidentally, the way was
prepared for the long war between
the rustlers and the cattle barons
who had begun early had great herds
under their own brands, while the
newcomers had none. They wanted to
continue the business of branding
stock whenever it was found un-
branded. Owners of cattle chose now
to regard this as theft. Hence a war
which continued for a quarter, of a
century.
Meantime the herds pushed stead
lily farther and farther north. The
cattle trail which led across the Rio
Grande and the plains of Texas was
steadily extended north along the
eastern edge of the Rocky mountains.
And as the herds moved north, the
markets for cattle increased and with
them the value of cattle. The great
transcontinental railroads were now
building and had founded western ter
minals at Dodge City, Wichita, New
ton and other towns in Kansas. These
became shipping points for cattle,
and incidentally they became about
the widest towns that ever graced
the earth. Besides stoekyards and
cattle shutes, each of them had whole
streets of saloons, gambling joints and
dance halls, established for the enter
tainment of the cowboys. 1t was dur
ing the brief but lurid career of these
coW-towns that the romantic tradition
of the wild, revolver-shooting cow
puncher who has filled so much space
In the magazines and popular novels
was established. From the literature
on the subject one would imagine that
the whole west was a carnival of gun
play. AS a matter of fact, the wild
and woolly stuff was mostly confined
to these few towns and lasted only a
rev years. The cattlemen of the
whole west converged upon these
towns, sold their stock and set out to
Spend their money The result was
inevitable. You can get it anywhere
by turning loose a large number of
men with money to spend, whisky to
drink and no wives to make them be-
have. Every dance ended in a gun
fight. Men rode their horses into
dance halls and saloons and shot out
the lights. Professional bulues went
about challenging each other to bat
ties to the death. Life was as violent
and spectacular as a third-rate movie.
The Long Drives.
Besides the cow-towns, the other
great market for beef was the indian
reservations. The government by that
time Gin the seventies) had rounded
up most of the Indians and put them
on reservations, and whisky and con
sumption had not yet reduced their
numbers greatly. Hence, Uncle Sam
had thousands of Indians to feed. and
he fed them largely on beef Prob