Cowboys and  Farmers on the Plains

    Railroads connected the four dollar cow
                   with the forty-dollar market.
    Texas longhorns lean, hardy, fleet of foot, and
                    ill-tempered-  (does this description
                    remind you of anyone in the room?)
    -
            Texas Longhorn Cattle

Chisholm Trail

Indian trader Jesse Chisholm first marked this
famous cattle trail for his wagons. Joseph G. McCoy
 arrived at Abilene, the end of the extended Chisholm
Cattle Trail, in 1867 and built stockyards that he
 advertised throughout Texas.
In the five years from 1867 to 1872, more than
three million head of cattle were driven up the
Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene.

By 1870 thousands of Texas longhorn cattle were
 being driven over the Chisholm Trail to the Union
Pacific (later the Kansas Pacific) Railroad shipping
 center at Abilene.

By 1871 as many as 5,000 cowboys were often paid
off during a single day. Abilene became known as a
rough town in the West.
    -

    Two ranching groups that for several years
controlled millions of acres of Indian Territory's
grazing land were the

   1.  Cheyenne-Arapaho Stock Growers  Association

   2.   Cherokee Strip Livestock Association

   3.  Over 300,000 head of cattle were grazed for
                between $100,000 and $200,000