The Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail was a route that cowboys used to herd cattle from Texas to Wyoming. Cattle drives usually began in the spring after roundup, as grass was available then and the herd could be delivered to its destination in the north before cold weather set in.

A 12-man crew could manage a herd of 2,000 to 3,000 head. The trail boss was the ultimate authority on the trail, like the captain of a ship, and was paid $100 to $125 a month. Of the rest of the crew, the cook was the most important, earning about $60 per month.

The cowboy’s life on the trail was hard work. Nourishing meals were essential which were prepared out of a chuck wagon by the trail cook. Legendary ranchman and trail driver Charles Goodnight invented the chuck wagon in 1866 for use by his crews. The chuck wagon, sometimes drawn by oxen, but usually by mules, carried not only food, utensils and a water barrel, but also tools and the crew’s bed rolls. A fold-out counter, supported by one or two hinged legs, was used for food preparation. The wagon contained several drawers and shelves, with a “boot” or storage compartment underneath, all covered by a canvas top. The cook served beef and bison steaks, SOB stew (made from calf parts), “chuck wagon chicken” (bacon), “Pecos strawberries” (beans), “sourdough bullets” (biscuits) and cowboy coffee.

There were nine or 10 wranglers and drovers – sometimes called “thirty-dollar men” – per crew. The wrangler managed the herd of spare horses, known as the remuda, made up of eight or 10 horses for each man. The remaining drovers were appointed to their posts along the line of cattle in the drive.

Cattle do not trail in a group, but strung out in a long line. Several natural leaders usually take their places in front, while all the others fall into an irregular line behind them. A herd of 1,000 head might stretch out one to two miles on the trail. The drovers worked in pairs, one on either side of the line of animals. The best of the men were usually assigned to be “pointers,” working near the head of the line. The remainder of the men worked the flank and swing positions farther back, with drag men bringing up the rear. Communication was by hand signals, adapted from Plains Indian sign language, or gestures with hats. The drive would cover about 10 to 15 miles a day.

The major cause of stampedes was lightning, but the herd could be spooked by any number of sights, smells and noises. To stop a stampede, the drovers nearest the head of the herd would get in front of the leaders and turn them to the right, causing them to move in a circle, and then bring the rest of the herd into the circle as they approached. The riders would then make the circle smaller and smaller, until the entire herd was moving slowly in a tight circle.

When calves were born on the trail, the early practice was to kill them, because they could not keep up with the herd on their own. When calves came to have cash value, Charles Goodnight had a wagon made that would hold 30 to 40 calves. Any calves born on the trail would be picked up by the cowhands and put on the wagon for the day’s drive. At night, they would be turned out with their mothers. A cow knows her calf by its smell, and Goodnight found that when he had several calves on the wagon, their scents got mixed. So he had his cowboys place each calf in a sack and number the sacks so that the same calf went into same sack each morning. They spent the day in sacks on the wagon and spent the night with their mothers.

While on the trail, the Goodnight outfit made use of home remedies for illnesses. Coal oil was used to combat lice, and prickly-pear poultices were thought to help wounds heal. Flowers of the bachelor’s button plant were used to cure diarrhea, salt and bison tallow were used for piles, and bison-meat juice was drunk as a general tonic.

After serving in the frontier militia during the war, Goodnight rounded up his cattle in the spring of 1866 and headed for the Rocky Mountain mining region. To avoid Indians, he decided to use the old Butterfield stagecoach route to the southwest, follow the Pecos River upstream and proceed northward to Colorado. This route was almost twice as long as the direct route, but it was much safer.

While buying supplies for this trip, he encountered Oliver Loving (left) and the two decided to join forces. The combined herd numbered about 2,000 head when they left their camp 25 miles southwest of Belknap on June 6, 1866. Their route crossed New Mexico and proceeded over Raton Pass and made their way north to Pueblo and into El Paso County, roughly following present day I-25.

His drive continued close to Colorado Springs and just east of Monument. The drive crossed the Palmer Divide and continued to Denver. The herd may have paused in or near present day Greenland to feed on the grass and gain weight. Once in Denver, Loving sold the herd for shipment by rail to the west and east. With this drive, the Goodnight-Loving Trail was born.

Goodnight and Loving used this 1866 trail several times before Loving was mortally wounded in an Indian attack in New Mexico in September 1867. Just before he died, Loving made Goodnight promise to see that he was buried in his home cemetery in Weatherford, TX. Loving’s remains were temporarily interred in New Mexico while Goodnight and his outfit completed the drive. Returning to New Mexico, Goodnight had his cowboys flatten out all the old oil cans they could find and solder them together to make a tin casket.

Loving’s remains were placed into a wooden coffin, which was then put inside the tin casket. Powdered charcoal was packed between the two containers, and metal lid was sealed, and the whole contraption was crated and transported to Weatherford for burial. Loving’s grave in Weatherford’s Greenwood Cemetery has a Texas state historical marker.

In subsequent years, Goodnight would not pay the per-animal toll, of 10 cents levied by “Uncle Dick Wootton” for using Raton Pass, on the Colorado side. Instead, he drove his cattle to the east of Raton and found a crossing over the Apishapa River into Colorado/Kansas territory. ‘Apishapa’ is Ute and translates into “stinking water.” In 1868 Goodnight made a deal with John Wesley Iliff to drive cattle on to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Goodnight bypassed Denver to the west making straight north from Pueblo, to Jimmy’s Camp, about 9 miles east of Colorado Springs, over the Palmer Divide close to the headwaters of East Cherry Creek where they lingered several days to regain strength and weight on the rich grasslands and water, then north to near Greeley. From there he made his way to Cheyenne, Wyoming following Crow Creek. In all, some 25 to 30 thousand cattle were driven from Texas to fulfill the Iliff’s government contracts. The trail then extended some 2,000 miles. – RMD

The era of the cattle drive was at its peak for only about 20 years – from after the Civil War until the coming of the railroads to Texas made the long trek to northern markets unnecessary. But it has left us with a legacy of images that will be with us for generations: of sun-burned cowboys in their distinctive chaps and wide brimmed hats, of clouds of dust kicked up by bawling cattle, of the wheeling and darting quarter horses keeping the critters in line, of the crusty chuck wagon cook making biscuits in a Dutch oven over an open fire. The cattle drive, more than any other entity, epitomizes the romanticism of the “Old West.”

“Charles Goodnight approaches greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history.”
– J. Frank Dobie, Cow People, 1964

Goodnight was born March 5, 1836, in Macoupin County, Ill. In 1845, he moved with his family to Milam County, Texas. He later became a Texas Ranger and participated in the raid in 1860 in which Indian chief Quanah Parker’s mother, Cynthia Ann, was rescued.

If you saw the movie “Lonesome Dove” and any of this sounds familiar, it should. The movie was based on the actual events of the cattle drive by Goodnight and Loving.

In the movie, Gus McRae and the old man left their drive to scout the area.

Along the way, they were caught in an Indian attack and took refuge in a small cave like depression in a creek bank.

McRae was injured in a fight with the Indians and the old man with him took off to find the cattle drive. The old man was found by cowboys from the drive and McRae made his way to a town where he was treated by a doctor.

In the movie, McRae had one leg amputated due to gangrene but would not allow the amputation of his other leg, thus finally causing McRae’s death.

As in the story about Loving, the movie character McRae’s body was taken several thousand miles to Texas for burial by his partner in the cattle drive.

As for Goodnight, in 1876, he established the first cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. In the following years, the ranch expanded and included nearly 1 million acres and 100,000 head of cattle.

Goodnight’s other accomplishments included the crossing of buffalo with Polled Angus cattle to establish a new breed of stock, the cattalo, the forerunner of today’s beefalo, which is 3/8 bison and 5/8 bovine.

We recommend the following 55-minute PBS video on Charles Goodnight:
https://www.pbs.org/video/kacv-presents-goodnight-panhandle-trailblazer/