The Civil War is Over!We are close to the turn

of the century!

Life was changingin the United States!

Most change was good. Let’s learn all about it!

What does “turn ofthe century” mean?

Texas

Texas is known for many things!One thing that it is known for is its cattle production.

After the Civil War, many Texas cattle farmersreturned home to find that their cattleherds had grown tremendously! Why?

This is great that our cattle population has grown so much when

we were fighting in the war! We can sell all this beef. Demand is high for beef in the

Eastern United States! So much beef was consumed by the

Confederate and Union armies during the war.

Not so fast, buddy! How will we get all this cattle to the

East? How will we transport it? The beef markets are far away

from Texas!

Did he say,

“Beef Markets?”RUUUN!!

I have an idea! My name is Joseph

McCoy. I am a cattle farmer from Illinois!

Let me show you how we can move this

cattle from Texas to the Eastern states!

We can herd the cattle through Texas and Indian Territory. Then we can go to Abilene, Kansas. There, we will load the cattle onto railroad cars and take it to the East!!

herding cattleIndianTerritory

We can herd the cattle through Texas and Indian Territory Then we can go to Abilene, Kansas. There we will load the cattle onto railroad cars and take it to the East!!

In 1867, the first cattle trail was blazed!It was called the Chisholm Trail.

The trailwas initiallya wagon trail.

Jesse Chisholm

It is estimatedthat 6 million cattlemade their way up theChisholm Trail from 1867to the mid 1880’s! That isa lot of beef!

Where wouldthe cattle goonce they gotto Abilene?

There were also other cattle routes thatwould take cattle to Nebraska andNorthern territories. One was called theGreat Western Cattle Trail.

Many bones of cows and calves were found alongthe path. These animals couldnot keep up with the herdsand died. Even cowboys diedalong the way from disease,accidents, or evenIndian attacks.

Let’s Review

The Civil War armies ate agreat deal of beef during the war.

Why was there a shortage of beef in the East?

What was the solution to getting cattle to the East?

The solution was to herd the cattle from Texasup to Kansas. In Kansas, the cattle was then put on railroad cars to be taken toEastern states.

This cattle owner was one of the first people tofigure out a way how to get cattle from Texas to the East.

Joseph McCoy

This was the cattle trail that led cattle herds to thenorthern territories in the United States. Great Western

Cattle Trail

This was the cattle trail that went from Texas toAbilene, Kansas. It was the first cattle trail.Chisholm

TrailWho was the Chisholm Trail named after?

Jesse Chisholm

Discussion Question: How is cattle transported today?