james postell douglas set up the first stockyard for texas cattle in abilene kansas.
who set up the first stockyard for texas cattle in abilene kansas?
james postell douglas
by 1867, a cattle shipping facility owned by joseph g. mccoy opened in abilene, kansas. built west of farm country and close to the railhead at abilene, the town became a center of cattle shipping, loading over 36,000 head of cattle in its first year. the route from texas to abilene became known as the chisholm trail, named for jesse chisholm who marked out the route. it ran through present-day oklahoma, which then was indian territory, but there were relatively few conflicts with native americans, who usually allowed cattle herds to pass through for a toll of ten cents a head. later, other trails forked off to different railheads, including those at dodge city and wichita, kansas. by 1877, the largest of the cattle-shipping boom towns, dodge city, kansas, shipped out 500,000 head of cattle.
cattle drives in the united states
the chisholm trail decreased in importance after 1871 when, as a result of the westward advance of settlement, abilene lost its preeminence as a shipping point for texas cattle. dodge city, kansas became the chief shipping point for another trail farther west, crossing the red river at red river station, texas. the extension of the atchison, topeka and santa fe railway to caldwell, kansas, in 1880, however, again made the chisholm trail a most important route for driving texas cattle to the north, and it retained this position until the building of additional trunk lines of railway south into texas caused rail shipments to take the place of the former trail driving of texas cattle north to market.
cattle drives in the united states