Abilene Trail

Last updated July 17, 2024

The Abilene Trail was a cattle trail leading from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. Its exact route is disputed owing to its many offshoots, but it crossed the Red River just east of Henrietta, Texas, and continued north across the Indian Territory to Caldwell, Kansas and on past Wichita and Newton to Abilene. The first herds were probably driven over it in 1866, though it was not named until Abilene was established in 1867.

The earlier Shawnee-Arbuckle cattle trail was used by trail drivers from 1867 through 1870. According to Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, "When Fort Arbuckle was abandoned and Fort Sill had become established, trail drivers moved their pathway farther west to a more direct route to Abilene, Kansas. From the 1860s through the 1880s, cowboys 'went up the trail' and 'pointed them north' to Kansas...the drovers often called the trail 'the Kansas Trail,' or the 'Abilene Trail,' because they were going in that direction."^[1]

In 1867, Joseph G. McCoy developed stockyards at Abilene, along the Union Pacific Eastern Division Railroad, since "the country was entirely unsettled, well watered, excellent grass, and nearly the entire area of [the] country was adopted to holding cattle." According to Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, "Because it was late in the season, he employed W.W. Sugg, a stockman friend from his home state of Illinois, to ride south to intercept herds trailing to Missouri on the Shawnee Trail." On 5 September, the first rail carloads of cattle were on their way to Chicago.^[1]^: 20–21

In 1867, McCoy reported 35,000 head of cattle had arrived in Abilene. With more Texas cattlemen knowing of the shorter route, more than 300,000 Texas longhorns used the trail over the next two seasons. The trail eventually became known as the Chisholm Trail since it used the pre-existing Chisholm Wagon Road, and by 1871 Abilene was no longer accepting Texas cattle with Newton, Wichita and Ellsworth becoming the new cattle towns.^[1]^{: 23–26, 113}

The country about Abilene was settling up quickly at this time. Grazing lands were becoming scarcer and these conditions were such that many of the settlers objected to the pasturing of the great herds in the vicinity. In the year 1872, Wichita was in possession of the trade that Abilene had enjoyed for several years prior due to the completion of the Santa Fe railroad. This gave Wichita the needed railroad facilities. From 1867 to 1871 about 10,000 cars of livestock were shipped out of Abilene and in 1872 about 80,000 head of cattle were shipped from Wichita.

The settlement of the valleys of the Arkansas and the Ninnescah rivers rendered it impractical to reach Wichita shipping yards after 1873 and the loading of cattle was transferred to points on the railroad farther west, finally stopping at Dodge City. The use of the Abilene cattle trail ended in 1887.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion County, Kansas</span> County in Kansas, United States

Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Marion and its most populous city is Hillsboro. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,823. The county was named in honor of Francis Marion, a brigadier general of the American Revolutionary War, known as the "Swamp Fox".

Abilene is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the Greyhound Hall of Fame.

Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 18,602. Newton is located 25 miles (40 km) north of Wichita. The city of North Newton is located immediately north and exists as a separate political entity. Newton is located at the intersection of Interstate 135, U.S. Route 50, and U.S. Route 81 highways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pond Creek, Oklahoma</span> City in Oklahoma, United States

Pond Creek is a city in Grant County, Oklahoma, United States, along the Salt Fork Arkansas River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 856, a 4.5 percent decline from the figure of 896 in 2000.

Saint Jo is a city in Montague County, Texas, United States, along the northern border of the state. The population was 881 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wesley Hardin</span> Figure from the American Old West

John Wesley Hardin was an American Old West outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk icon. Hardin often got into trouble with the law from an early age. He killed his first man at the age of 15, claiming he did so in self-defense.

The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, crossed the Red River into Indian Territory, and ended at Kansas rail stops. The trail encompassed a pathway established by Black Beaver in 1861, and a wagon road established by Jesse Chisholm around 1864. "The Chisholm Wagon Road went from Chosholm's trading post on the South Canadian (north of Fort Arbuckle to the Cimarron River crossing, to the Arkansas River at the future site of Wichita where Chisholm had another trading post and on north to Abilene," according to the Kraisingers. By 1869, the entire trail from Texas to Kansas became known as the Chisholm Trail.

The Texas Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail, or Shawnee-Arbuckle Trail, was a major trade and emigrant route to Texas across Indian Territory. Established during the Mexican War by emigrants rushing to Texas, it remained an important route across Indian Territory until Oklahoma statehood. The Shawnee Trail was the earliest and easternmost route by which Texas Longhorn cattle were taken to the north. It played a significant role in the history of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas in the early and mid-1800s.

Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy was a 19th-century entrepreneur known for promoting the transport of Longhorn cattle from Texas to the eastern United States.

Cattle drives were a major economic activity in the 19th and early 20th century American West, particularly between 1850s and 1910s. In this period, 27 million cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas, for shipment to stockyards in St. Louis and points east, and direct to Chicago. The long distances covered, the need for periodic rests by riders and animals, and the establishment of railheads led to the development of "cow towns" across the frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Western Cattle Trail</span>

The Great Western Cattle Trail is the name used today for a cattle trail established during the late 19th century for moving beef stock and horses to markets in eastern and northern states. It ran west of and roughly parallel to the better known Chisholm Trail into Kansas, reaching an additional major railhead there for shipping beef to Chicago, or longhorns and horses continuing on further north by trail to stock open-range ranches in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana in the United States, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.

Preston Trail, later known as the Old Preston Road, was a road created by the Republic of Texas in 1841 from Preston, Texas on the Red River south to Austin, Texas. This road closely followed an existing trail that led across the area that had been used for centuries. This road was a main transportation artery from Central Texas to North Texas in the latter half of the 19th century. Today, Texas State Highway 289 follows near this former road.

A cattle drive is the process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another, usually moved and herded by cowboys on horses.

Old Cowtown Museum is an accredited history museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located next to the Arkansas River in central Wichita. The Museum was established in 1952, and is one of the oldest open-air history museums in central United States with 54 historic and re-created buildings, including a period farm and out-buildings, situated on 23 acres of land off the original Chisholm Trail. Cowtown is a combination of attraction, museum, living history site, and historic preservation project. The Historic Wichita Cowtown, Inc. Board, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit institution, works with the City of Wichita to further the Museum and its mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Beaver</span>

Black Beaver or Se-ket-tu-may-qua was a trapper and interpreter who worked for the American Fur Company. He served as a scout and guide as he was fluent in English, as well as several European and Native American languages. He is credited with establishing the California and Chisholm trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James R. Mead (pioneer)</span> American politician

James R. Mead was a plainsman, Kansas pioneer, one of the founders of Wichita, Kansas and state legislator. He was active in seeking to protect the rights of the Kansas Indian tribes. He aided in directing the cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail to the city. In 1871, he was instrumental in bringing the Wichita & Southwestern Railroad to Wichita. He possessed a lifelong interest in biology and ethnology. Later in life, he wrote articles for the Kansas State Historical Society and for the Kansas Academy of Science. His memoirs were published in the book, Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains 1859-1875 [Rowfant Press 2008, ISBN 978-1-929731-07-7].

Waldeck is a ghost town in Marion County, Kansas, United States. It is currently a ghost town that was located approximately 3.5 miles north of Lehigh next to a railroad. No buildings remain of this former community.

A cattle town was a frontier settlement in the Midwestern United States that catered to the cattle industry. The economies of these communities were heavily dependent on the seasonal cattle drives from Texas, which brought the cowboys and the cattle that these towns relied upon. Cattle towns were found at the junctions of railroads and livestock trails. These towns were the destination of the cattle drives, the place where the cattle would be bought and shipped off to urban meatpackers, midwestern cattle feeders, or to ranchers on the central or northern plains. Cattle towns were made famous by popular accounts of rowdy cowboys and outlaws who were kept under control by local lawmen, but those depictions were mostly exaggeration and myth.

Montford T. Johnson was Chickasaw and a cattleman who lived in Indian Territory, what is now the present-day state of Oklahoma. Johnson was a well-known and respected entrepreneur, noted for his successful ranching operation that spanned a large area of central Oklahoma, including parts of what would eventually become Oklahoma City.

Margaret Heffernan Borland was a pioneering frontier woman who ran her own ranch, as well as handled her own herds. She made a name for herself as a cattle baron and was famous for the drive of Texas Longhorn cattle that she took up the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Wichita, Kansas, with her three surviving children and her granddaughter. To date, she is the only known woman in the history of the United States to run her own cattle drive and was considered one of the first cattle queens after being widowed thrice.

References

1 2 3 Kraisinger, Gary; Kraisinger, Margaret (2016). The Shawnee-Arbuckle Cattle Trail 1867-1870. Newton, Kansas: Mennonite Press. pp. 40, 90. ISBN 9780975482827.

This article incorporates text from Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc., published in 1912

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[gmk-1] 1 2 3 Kraisinger, Gary; Kraisinger, Margaret (2016). The Shawnee-Arbuckle Cattle Trail 1867-1870. Newton, Kansas: Mennonite Press. pp. 40, 90. ISBN 9780975482827.

[1]