LOCAL TEXAS ICON
Longhorn TEXAS The A Living History by WILL CRADDOCK Herd Manager, Off icial State of Texas Longhorn Herd A
ALONGSIDE BLUEBONNETS and cow- boys, little is more symbolic of Texas or the Old West than the Longhorn, with its trademark seven-foot horns and fiery temper. Fittingly, the history of these iconic creatures reads as much like a tall tale as their physical description. They lived a feral life, were forcibly moved over long distances, and after coming perilously close to extinction, the Longhorns were res- cued and went on to enjoy enduring popularity as four-legged folk heroes. Longhorns as we know
them are descended from the first cattle brought to the New World, in 1493. Over the next 20 years, Spanish colonists brought even more cattle with them on subsequent expeditions, and by the end of the 17th century, the descendants of these colonists and cattle gradually migrated to Texas. When early settlers interbred wild Mexican cattle with their own eastern breeds, the result was a rugged, long-legged, long-horned animal with a colorfully patterned coat. As settlements grew, more cat-
tle escaped into the wild. They spent another two centuries living by their wits and roaming the open plains most-
12 AUTHENTIC TEXAS
ly on their own. As they endured the intense high heat and rugged terrain, they developed resistance to parasites and disease, including the deadly Texas Fever that plagued many other herds. The Longhorns predominantly populated an area from the Red River to the Rio Grande, as far east as the Louisiana line, and west to the upper breaks of the Brazos. At the end of the Civil War, survivors
returning home to Texas found empty ranches and herds of
• wild cattle.
Between 1866 and 1890, an estimated 10 million Longhorns were herded from Texas to northern markets. For many Americans, this long trail drive complete with crusty old trail bosses,
The Herd can be found at Fort Griffin State Historic Site north of Albany, Texas, in the Texas Forts Trail Region. Cattle can also be seen in the Plains Trail and Hill Country Trail regions.
impetuous cowboys and the inevitable haz- ards of crossing treacherous rivers and Native American territory is synony- mous with the Old West. J. Frank Dobie writes in his classic 1941 book The Longhorns that the Chisholm Trail, from Texas to Kansas, “initiated the most fantastic and fabulous migration of animals controlled by man that the world has ever known or can ever know.”
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of ranching, cattle drives
and the Longhorn to the history and economy of Texas. The cattle were the only potential asset the state had, but there was no market for them, so over the next decades, contractors drove five to 10 million of them across the borders. This provided the state with a large source of income in an otherwise poor postwar economy, supplied large parts of the U.S. and Europe with beef and hides, and helped the state recover from the Civil
PHOTOS TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84