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Way
back in the early 1870s, there was a newspaper operating in Hallettsville
called the Herald and Planter it was printing a weekly edition and the
editor was S. Lee Kyle. According to the Library of Congress, the Herald and
Planter existed from 1872-1887.
It is interesting to note that in the
1870s Texas
was coming out of an economic disaster brought on by the Civil War. And what was
the one major thing that saved Texas?
The answer is wild longhorn
cattle, and the men who gathered them up from out of the mesquite brush and
cactus they formed herds and drove them thousands of miles up cattle trails
to railheads where they were shipped back East to be devoured by beef-hungry Americans.
Millions of dollars were brought back to Texas
by those daring men who braved the weather, bandits, rustlers, and Indians to
get their herds to market.
And once again, a newspaper becomes an eyewitness
to history as it documents the story of those cattle drives and markets in 1874.
This report comes in the form of a letter out of Topeka, Kansas, and gives readers
an idea of just how valuable cattle
were in those days. The following article was published in the Hallettsville
Herald and Planter it is has been slightly edited. |
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Herald and Planter (Hallettsville), Oct. 15, 1874
A letter from Topeka, Kansas, takes the view which follows of the Texas
cattle trade for the present year.
The
traffic commenced in the spring with a rather discouraging outlook, and many drawbacks
have attended it during the summer; but despite of all difficulties it bids fair
to turn out larger and more satisfactory than that of any former year.
There
are yet 115,000 wintered cattle
in [Kansas] which will be shipped between now and the first of December. The number
driven this year from Texas,
the bulk of which will be shipped this season, is about 225,000. The shipments
for the entire year 1874 may be safely put at figures in the neighborhood of 500,000,
should nothing interfere with the business from this time on to the first of January,
and the amount of money involved in the business for the year cannot fall short
of $10,000,000, counting the cattle
at the average price per head in Chicago, and not including young stock driven
from Texas
to be wintered.
In addition to the cattle driven into Kansas this year
from Texas,
about 50,000 head have been driven to Colorado, and are being fitted for fall
and early winter markets. Quite a large number will also be wintered in Colorado
as well as in Kansas.
The St. Louis Globe notes the arrival in
that city of two trains with cattle
from Flatonia, Texas, by the Harrisburg
and San Antonio Railroad. Flatonia
is about 140 or 150 miles west of Houston,
on the edge of Gonzales County.
The cattle
were shipped by prominent graziers [cattlemen] half a dozen of them handled
annually 50,000 head. They have been in the habit of sending droves to Kansas;
also, selling for shipment to New Orleans. They have also sold for shipment to
Cuba. But now the Globe says, they intend to select their best cattle
and ship them to St. Louis. A few days ago they sent a lot on experiment.
Friday
the second bunch came, and all were sold at most satisfactory prices. The owners
were so well pleased with the St. Louis market that they will hereafter ship in
large numbers. The Globe says, That these extensive graziers have now
settled upon a well defined purpose to ship here is a matter for congratulation.
© Murray
Montgomery November
9, 2011 column
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