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Cattle drives

Land grant railroads facilitated the integration of the Southwest into the national economy. After the Civil War the cattle industry expanded rapidly in Texas, but it lacked rail connections to the main packinghouses in Chicago. The solution of a cattle drive across unoccupied federal land north to the railheads in Kansas. Two railroads competed for the business, the Santa Fe and the Kansas Pacific. There were several well-travelled routes; the most popular was the Chisholm Trail with a destination in Abilene, Kansas. A typical drive would start with a herd of 2000 cattle (and a hundred or so horses), with a dozen cowboys, a cook and a trail master. They trekked about 15 miles a day, stopping at water holes and giving the cattle the chance to graze so they would not be losing weight. The cowboys made sure the cattle did not wander. There was no cost to use federal land, but when they went across Indian Territory (Oklahoma), they paid the Indians for their passage with some cattle.