The Western Trail and Its Importance to the American Economy

In 19th century America, as many as six million head of cattle and a million horse traveled from Texas to northern stockyards. During this time, the Chisholm, Western, Goodnight Loving, and Shawnee Trails were the major livestock thoroughfares.

In 1874 South Texas rancher John T. Lytle initiated the Great Western Trail to meet a humanitarian need – to provide longhorn beef for the Sioux, who were relegated to subsistence hunting on the plains and could barely survive on small animals. Lytle secured a contract from the U.S. government to drive large herds of cattle from West Texas to a point in northern Kansas. He hired a trail boss and a group of cowboys, called drovers. They were paid a fee for their services by the ranchers who owned the cattle. The contract drovers were also expected to make a profit by selling the cattle in the North.

The cattle drives were extraordinarily hazardous and demanding. The trails were often overgrown with brush and cactus, the terrain was rugged, and Indian attacks were commonplace. Nevertheless, the route was important to ranchers and traders seeking new markets for their cattle. The fur trappers and explorers who followed the trails documented many of its features, and they acted as guides for the later trail users.

Eventually, the Great Western Trail was mapped by surveyors and railroad engineers. It started near Franklin or Independence, Missouri, and ran generally northwest to Kansas City, then north through the West Texas town of Lubbock, through the Hill Country towns of Mason, San Saba, and Three Rivers, then east into Kerrville, where it merged with feeder routes from other areas.

By the mid-1880s, the Chisholm and other trails were used by millions of head of cattle in nineteen years of activity. In many ways, the Western Trail was more important to the American economy than the Chisholm. It was also a more direct route to northern stockyards, bypassing the northern part of Mexico.

During the 19th century, the trail was used by people of all classes and walks of life. It was a way to travel across the vast expanses of the Intermountain West, a place that was both unknown and desirable at the time. The trail also provided a valuable link between the United States and the indigenous people of northern Mexico.

In 2009, a small club in Vernon, Texas, decided to mark the trail by placing a marker every six miles across the state of Texas. The project caught the attention of RI President Ray Klinginsmith, who endorsed it and became a tireless champion for its completion. As of August 2010, a total of 121 trail markers have been dedicated, and more are on the way. The remainder of the trail has yet to be marked, but the project is gaining momentum in Nebraska and will soon be active in Oklahoma, Montana, and North Dakota as well. The effort was a tremendous undertaking, and it has helped to reconnect the people of the trail to their history, to Rotary, and to one another.