The Rise of the Cattle Industry
For years, wild cattle wandered the open range, unfenced land, of Texas. Called longhorn for their broad horns, they needed almost no care. They survived on prairie grass and watering holes.
Means and Markets
The herds of cattle had grown from strays lost by Spanish ranchers. As American settlers moved in, they set up new ranches. But they did not bother to round up the stray herds because they had no means of getting the cattle to distant markets.
As railroads swept across the Plains in the 1860's, Texans at last saw a way to reach those markets. Protein-rich beef was in demand to feed city dwellers in the East and miners and soldiers in the West.
The Long Drives
Ranchers began rounding up the cattle in the 1860's. They hired cowhands - skilled riders who know how to herd cattle - to move the cattle to rail lines in Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming. Some rail lines were as far away as 1,000 miles.