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At the close of the Civil War when millions of
longhorns were left on the plains of Texas without
a market, the Union Pacific was building west across
Kansas. Joseph McCoy, an Illinois stockman, believed
these cattle could be herded over the prairies for
shipment by rail. He built yards at Abilene and sent
agents to notify the Texas cattlemen. The trail he
suggested ran from the Red river to Abilene but took
its name from Jesse Chisholm, Indian trader, whose
route lay between the North Canadian river and this
vicinity. In 1867 the first drives were made and during
the next five years more than a million head moved
north past this place. Eventually the railroads and
the barbed wire of settlers closed the long trails. But
the cowboys of these great drives, living in the saddle
for more than a month, swimming flooded river, fighting
night stampedes, have become the heroes of an
American epic.
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