<P> The Great Western Cattle Trail was first traveled by Captain John T. Lytle in 1874 when he was transporting 3,500 longhorn cattle up from Southern Texas into Nebraska . In five short years , it became one of the most traveled and famous Cattle Trails in U.S. history . Despite its popularity , traffic along the trail began to decline in 1885 due to the spreading use of barbed wire fences and the legislation calling for a quarantine of Texas cattle due to the `` Texas Fever '' - a disease spread by a parasitic tick . The last major Cattle drive up the trail was on its way to Deadwood , South Dakota in 1893 . By that time there had been an estimated six to seven million cattle and one million horses that had traversed the trail . Later , in order to commemorate the significance of the Cattle Drive era , two markers were erected in the 1930s at Doan 's . Doan 's was seen as the last `` stepping - off point '' before entering Indian Territory that sold supplies , ammo , tobacco , provisions , Stetson hats & guns , and anything else that would be required on the long trek . C.E. Doan had kept a meticulous record of the companies and Trail Bosses along with the number of cattle that crossed his path each year , allowing for numbers and history to be preserved , so a marker was fitting . In 2003 a new project was launched in order to place cement markers every six to ten miles along the trail , from the Rio Grande to Ogallala , Nebraska . Oklahoma set the first post south of the city at Altus . </P>
<P> The Great Western Cattle Trail was first traveled by Captain John T. Lytle in 1874 when he was transporting 3,500 longhorn cattle up from Southern Texas into Nebraska . In five short years , it became one of the most traveled and famous Cattle Trails in U.S. history . Despite its popularity , traffic along the trail began to decline in 1885 due to the spreading use of barbed wire fences and the legislation calling for a quarantine of Texas cattle due to the `` Texas Fever '' - a disease spread by a parasitic tick . The last major Cattle drive up the trail was on its way to Deadwood , South Dakota in 1893 . By that time there had been an estimated six to seven million cattle and one million horses that had traversed the trail . Later , in order to commemorate the significance of the Cattle Drive era , two markers were erected in the 1930s at Doan 's . Doan 's was seen as the last `` stepping - off point '' before entering Indian Territory that sold supplies , ammo , tobacco , provisions , Stetson hats & guns , and anything else that would be required on the long trek . C.E. Doan had kept a meticulous record of the companies and Trail Bosses along with the number of cattle that crossed his path each year , allowing for numbers and history to be preserved , so a marker was fitting . In 2003 a new project was launched in order to place cement markers every six to ten miles along the trail , from the Rio Grande to Ogallala , Nebraska . Oklahoma set the first post south of the city at Altus . </P>
where did the great western cattle trail begin and end
where did the great western cattle trail begin and end
Southern Texas Deadwood , South Dakota
Southern Texas Deadwood , South Dakota