of the American cattle industry.

Chips and flakes of the great Southwestern herd began to be seen
in the Northern States. As early as 1857 Texas cattle were driven
to Illinois. In 1861 Louisiana was, without success, tried as an
outlet. In 1867 a venturous drover took a herd across the Indian
Nations, bound for California, and only abandoned the project
because the Plains Indians were then very bad in the country to
the north. In 1869 several herds were driven from Texas to
Nevada. These were side trails of the main cattle road. It seemed
clear that a great population in the North needed the cheap beef
of Texas, and the main question appeared to be one of
transportation. No proper means for this offered. The Civil War
stopped almost all plans to market the range cattle, and the
close of that war found the vast grazing lands of Texas covered
fairly with millions of cattle which had no actual or determinate
value. They were sorted and branded and herded after a fashion,
but neither they nor their increase could be converted into
anything but more cattle. The cry for a market became imperative.

Meantime the Anglo-Saxon civilization was rolling swiftly toward
the upper West. The Indians were being driven from the Plains. A
solid army was pressing behind the vanguard of soldier, scout,
and plainsman. The railroads were pushing out into a new and
untracked empire. They carried the market with them. The market
halted, much nearer, though still some hundred of miles to the
north of the great herd. The Long Trail tapped no more at the
door of Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, but leaped north again
definitely, this time springing across the Red River and up to
the railroads, along sharp and well-defined channels deepened in