After this the cattle industry was beginning its peak. A man named Joseph McCoy helped this along with his ambitions. He wanted to make Chicago the centre of the meat trade in the east. He would gain money by commission on each cattle head. One problem though, was that farmers in Kansas (where there was a demand for beef) were reluctant to let the longhorns cross there land as they carried a tick (insect) which killed other animals. A quarantine ban was imposed. Also the cattlemen faced fierce opposition when travelling to Kansas. A few of these were the Indians, homesteaders and the climate also made it difficult.
McCoy knew that railway companies were eager to carry more freight on their trains. If he could get the cattle to the Kansas Pacific Railway then, the cattle would be able to be transported to the towns in demand. In Abilene, which was a village located on the Kansas Pacific Railway, McCoy paid for a hotel, stockyard, office and a bank to be built. This created sufficient facilities for it to become the first cow town. The way McCoy got the herds to the railroad was by using the Chisholm Trail. This was a wide, flat trail, used as a supply path in the civil war, which was created by Jesse Chisholm. This way cattlemen could drive their herds without hostility form farmers. Later this trail expanded to Ellsworth and Dodge City which became cow towns. McCoy made great profit from this-selling in Texas and selling for 3-4 times more in Abilene.
Another factor of the beef bonanza was the Goodnight-Loving trail. Charles Goodnight returned from the Civil war to find that his cattle stocks had risen. He had 5000 and needed to sell them for them to be useful. The demand came from the Government, who needed food supplies to feed the army during the war. Also Indians were in demand for food. He drove his cattle to Fort summer. The trail had no farmer hostility, but passed through Indian Territory. Lack of water and Indians made the drives difficult. They still continued as demand was growing to supply Indian reservations.
Cattlemen set up ranches on the plains, as there was lots of grass and they could graze.
The next factor was a man called John Illif. He began to buy longhorns-35000. He sold them to railway companies and he obtained contracts to supply the Sioux reservation. He improved the cattle quality by cross-breeding the longhorns with Herefordshire cows from England. The longhorns were strong and sturdy while the English cows had more meat, meaning they could be sold for more.
Cowboys were introduced to protect the cattle. From 1866 to the mid 1870s they had to drive the cattle up north from Texas to the railways. It would take 2 months, but was reduced to 35 days due to ranches on the plains. It was hazardous and when prices began to rise-if the cowboys lost only a few cattle, it would cost ranchers a lot of money, so they had a big responsibility. There problems on the long drive were: Stampedes, bad weather, Indians, rustlers, settlers.
The industry was at its peak. The railway network was extended, refrigerated carriages meant meat could be slaughtered before-larger quantity domestically and later abroad. More public land as the Indians were removed and placed on reservations.
After this is all collapsed. Farmers experimented with poorer quality breeds. This was because the English cow-Herefordshire wasn’t suited to the climate, so many died. When prices were high, cattlemen overstocked their cattle, but when there was a drought and high summer temperatures in 1883, the grass was ruined and cattle died. After this in 1885, beef demand fell and there was no profit in keeping large herds. The severe winter of 1886-87 killed the industry. Many cattle and cowboys died in snow and ice. There was no point in restocking.
After this huge decline wind pumps and cheap fencing were introduced. The pumps, which pumped out the water from underground allowed ranches to be set up anywhere on the plains-not next to a water source. This wasn’t much use as there was a small demand and the cattle industry was no longer big and was no longer a way of huge money income.
