More on the topic of long cattle drives.
Shouldn't surprise me as much as it does, after all its not like people were walking without stock when they travelled these trails, so some oxen, mules and/or horses were always involved, hauling loads yet.
Longest single drives? Found mention of at least one herd of longhorns to New York, and cattlemen live Oliver Loving were driving cows up the Shawnee Trail to Ohio and Illinois by 1850.
The longest single drive I have heard of was from St Louis to California, 2,000 miles, by an Italian...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_drives_in_the_United_States In 1853 the Italian aristocrat Leonetto Cipriani undertook a drive from St. Louis to San Francisco along the California Trail; he returned to Europe in 1855 with large profits. Now THAT must have been a cattle drive, funny it escaped becoming a legend in popular lore.
What aint recalled much either in those years is the driving of cattle from the San Antonio area to California in the Gold Rush years.
Fortunately, that travelling Yankee, Frederick Law Olmstead, lefdt us a detailed description circa 1856 or thereabouts....
A California cattle-train.... consisted of four hundred head of oxen, generally in fine, moderately fat condition. There were only twenty-five men to guard and drive them. Only a few of these, old frontier men and drovers, who had before been over the road, and could act as guides, were paid wages.
The remainder were young menwho wished to emigrate to California, and who were glad to have their expenses paid for their services by the proprietors of the drove. They were all mounted on mules, and supplied with the short government rifle [BW note: Mississippi Rifles?]and Colt's repeaters.
Two large wagons and a cart, loaded with stores, cooking utensils and ammunition, followed the herd... The driving of cattle to California from Texas, as long as the market prices permit, is likely to be of increasing importance, as the hazard of much loss is small, and the profits often large.
Four men for a hundred head, where the herd is a large one, is considered a sufficient number. Five or six months are usually spent on the road. If the market is overstocked, and prices unsatisfactory on arrival of the herd in California, it costs but a trifle, in wages to herdsmen, to keep the cattle at pasture, where they fatten and improve in actual value. When importations have been checked, and the demand increases, the herd can again be brought into market.
The cattle were costing here, this year, not more than $14 a head, while those driven out last year brought $100 a head in California. A Texas drover, we were informed, the previous year made $100,000 by purchasing shgeep in Mexico at $1 a head, and selling them in California at $20 a head. Prob'ly notable that Mr Olmstead had never BEEN on a cattle drive. Hard to believe that driving a herd across Texas, New Mexico and maybe Arizona was as easy as he claims.
No word on the route either, did they take the long route up the Rio Grande to Santa Fe, and from there along the Old Spanish Trail?
Birdwatcher
