on the Texas border. Several stations were set up along the road where travelers could rest and refresh their horses. The western branch particularly remained the main cattle trail from Texas until the opening of the Chisholm Trail (or Abilene Trail) following the Civil War. History of the Trail Texas herds were taken up the Shawnee Trail as early as the 1840s, and use of the route gradually increased, but by 1853, trouble had begun to plague some of the drovers. In June of that year, as 3,000 cattle were trailed through western Missouri, local farmers blocked their passage and forced the drovers to turn back. This opposition arose from the fact that the Longhorns carried ticks that bore a serious disease that the farmers called Texas fever. The Texas cattle were immune to this disease, but the ticks that they left on their bedding areas infected the local cattle, causing many to die and making others unfit to sell. Some herds avoided the blockades, and the antagonism became stronger and more effective. In 1855, angry farmers in western and central Missouri formed vigilance committees, stopped some of the herds, and killed any Texas cattle that entered their counties. Missouri stockmen in several county seats called on their legislature for action. The outcome was a law, effective in December of that year, which banned diseased cattle from being brought into or through the state. This law failed, though, since the Longhorns were not themselves diseased. Farmers formed armed bands that turned back some herds, though others managed to get through. Several drovers took their herds north through the eastern edge of Kansas, but there, too, they met opposition from farmers, who induced their territorial legislature to pass a protective law in 1859. During the Civil War the Shawnee Trail was virtually unused for cattle drives. However both sides of the Civil War used the road heavily to move supplies and troops. Union and Confederate forces fought over control of the route, clashing at the Battle of Honey Springs and Battle of Baxter Springs on the road. After the war, with Texas overflowing with surplus cattle with almost no local markets, pressure for trailing became stronger than ever. In the spring of 1866, an estimated 200,000 to 260,000 cattle were pointed north. Although some herds were forced to turn back, others managed to get through, while still others were delayed or