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Guarding the Herd, Harper's Weekly, March 1878
At night the cattle would be bedded down near the camp. Two night riders would circle the herd
in opposite directions, so that on each circuit the two would each meet twice.
each circle.
"The Herd at Night," Frederic Remington, Century Magazine,
April 1888 But at night the dangers of a stampede might be worse. Ben Kinchlow recalled:
"Some evenin's you could see a little cloud risin' away up in the north an'
about dark you could see a little lightnin' danglin' an' then you better
look out 'cause that night you would sure hate trouble. On stormy nights
like that, I've seen balls of lightnin' danglin' all over the steers' horns
an' on them nights, they would almost be sure to run. We always kept some
of the cattle stirred up or awake at night 'cause a big herd of cattle will
run all night if they're tired an' get to sleepin' too sound. The least
racket will stampede 'em. You better never let 'em lay down an' go to sleep
an' get quiet; you'll have trouble sure as the world. The boys always sang
as they rode round the herd. That was the main thing, to keep a noise going
so that no sudden racket would stampede 'em. I used to 'odel' [yodel] aroun'
the cattle, but I never was much of a hand to sing. I could whistle an'
make all kinds of funny rackets. I could sing "Sam Bass' an' 'Bury Me Not
on the Lone Prairie,' but when all the hands could 'odel' it sho' was pretty
singin'".
Frederic Remington (1861-1909), was originally from upstate New York. In 1878, he was
sent to Yale and its newly established art school. At Yale he could not stand the
stuffy art curriculum, but was on the football team and was heavyweight
boxing champion. Upon his father's death he dropped out of college and shortly thereafter
took off for Montana. There he met an old freighter who, while sharing his coffee and
bacon with the young Remington, observed, "And now there is no more West." As a result,
Remington determined to document through his art the West that was. The first of
his works was accepted in Harper's Weekly in 1882. But by 1886, Remington was a success with
his art being featured on the cover of Harper's. Subsequently, he documented for the papers and
magazines the events of the day as well as the West. He was at Wounded Knee,
he convered the Spanish-American War in Cuba, but most of his art was drawn from a
studio in New York State to which he returned. Yet, even today, Remington is
regarded as a foremost documentor of the West that is now gone.
Roundup Wagon, approx. 1909.
Generally speaking because of movies such as Lonesome Dove, and Red River Valley, one
automatically pictures cattle trails such as the Texas Trail discussed below. Prior to the construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, discussed
with regard to Kemmerer, some of the greatest drives were from
eastern Oregon. The winter of 1880-1881 in eastern Oregon was particularly severe, depressing the price of cattle and
making it highly profitable to drive cattle to railheads in Wyoming and Nebraska.
In 1881, the Searight Cattle Company, owners of the Goose Egg (see N. Platte Valley),
drove some 18,000-20,000 head east to
Wyoming. The following year, an even greater drive was conducted by Lang and Ryan with
30,000 cattle, 120 cowboys, 800 horses, 40 wagons, 160 rifles, 30,000 rounds of
ammunition, and its own band.
Nor should it be taken that great cattle trails or epic cattle drives were limited to the American West. As discussed on a
subsequent page, such trails and epic drives also occurred in Australia and, indeed, in the Yukon.
Loading the Chuck Wagon, 1909
In July of 1884, a severe epidemic of Texas fever appeared near Ogallala resulting in the
imposition of a quarantine of Texas cattle. To forestall the end of the industry,
Texas cattlemen and contract drovers sought the creation of a national cattle trail
from South Texas to the Canadian border. The proposed trail was to come up through
Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. The bill died in the House
of Representatives. With the "Great Die-Off" discussed on a
subsequent page, the days of
the great cattle drives ended.
Texas Trail Monument Near Lusk, see text below.
Depicted on the above monument are many of the famous brands of the outfits that trailed cattle from
Texas to Montana. For identification and explanation of brands see Brands.
The last of the great trail drives along the Texas Trail was by the N Bar N in 1892 when 25,000 head were moved
from the Ranch's Texas operation headquartered in Panhandle City, Texas to its main holdings in
Montana, and the following year when 40,000 cattle were moved. The drive took 5 months. The N Bar N was
started in 1886 by William F. Niedringhaus and Frederick W. Niedringhaus. The N Bar N today
is remembered as having been the home of Charles Marion Russell for several years. In 1893 also, the
Matador's last drive started out on May 25, 1893 from White Deer, Texas. In July, the
Matador herd reached Wyoming and a month later Dakota. The Matador was the last of the great
British-owned cattle companies. In 1951, the Matador was liquidated, a victim not of weather, homesteading, or Texas fever, but,
instead, of ruinous post-war taxes. First, the company paid American taxes, then it paid British corporate taxes, 9 shillings on every pound, and
finally the shareholders paid taxes upon the earnings left over and distributed as dividends. Thus, the goose was
slain.
Another branch of the Texas Trail ran through Colorado to Pine Bluffs and from there it passed Albin, Lagrange, east of
Yoder, between Torrington and Lingle, and up to Lusk. A museum devoted to the trail is located
at Pine Bluffs. Thus, with the passing of the great cattle drives, emphasis on the western plains passed
to the routine of the Spring Roundup, the Fall Roundup, and branding. Shorter drives to
local railheads continued, but hurrahing of towns at the end of months-long drives were a thing of the
past.
Next Page, Loneliness on the Cattle Trail.
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