Cattle Drives from South Texas
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By 1840, tens of thousands of wild cattle roamed this vast south Texas region between the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. The longhorns were almost worthless to Texans, so in 1842, extended cattle drives began with small herds driven to New Orleans and Missouri. Edward Piper, in 1846, drove 1,000 head to Ohio. By 1850 drives began to California and in 1856, a herd was driven to Chicago. During the same period, bovines were shipped by boat to New Orleans and Havana, Cuba, but with little or no profit. The number of cattle driven out of south Texas did not diminish the growing cattle population, as over 3.5 million head were present in 1860. Several thousand cattle were delivered to the Confederacy during the early years of the Civil War, but not until the conflict ended did cattle drives become profitable. Industrialization and urbanization of the northern U.S. created a huge market, and the westward expansion of railroads provided the means of transportation. In this vicinity, several "feeder" trails led north to connect with the Chisholm and Dodge City trails to the Kansas railheads. By 1880, four million head had been driven to market, and Texas cattle had spread throughout the west. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By 1840 tens of thousands of wild longhorns roamed the brush country between the Rio Grande and the Gulf, so plentiful they were nearly worthless to the Texans who owned them. Ranchers began trailing small herds toward distant markets — New Orleans, Missouri, Ohio, even California and Chicago — but the real boom came after the Civil War, when hungry Northern cities and advancing railroads finally made the long drives pay. Feeder trails near here fed the great Chisholm and Dodge City routes to the Kansas railheads, and by 1880 some four million head had gone up the trail.
Why it matters
The South Texas cattle drives created the iconic American cowboy and the beef economy of the West, linking a wild frontier resource to the industrializing nation through the era's expanding railroads.
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Related people
- · Edward Piper
Themes & tags
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