The Chisholm Trail

Chisholm Trail When the railroads moved west to the Great Plains, the 'Cattle Boom' began. Southern Texas became a major ranching area with the raising of longhorn cattle from Mexico. Cattle was branded by the rawhides who guarded them on horseback on the ranges. Before the Civil War, small herds of Texas cattle were driven by the cowboys to New Orleans, some as far west as California, and some to the north over the Shawnee …

…