All You Need to Know About the Goodnight-Loving Trail
The Goodnight-Loving Trail was one of the most famous of the old cattle trails. Here’s what you need to know.
When it comes to western history, there are few things as romantic as cattle drives. These drives were ambitious ventures that took place in the grandeur of the Great Plains. They were difficult, long, and dangerous, yet they were undertaken by tough men willing to accept the risk. At the end of the trail, herds were delivered and the payoff was gained. In the end, these drives helped settle the West, build the country, and create an iconic figure of American history. While there were many trails north, few are as famous as the Goodnight-Loving Trail.
For those of you interested in learning more about this historic cattle trail, here are the things you need to know.
Men Who Blazed the Trail
The Goodnight-Loving Trail was the result of a partnership between two men; Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. While both of these men’s contributions have gone down in history, Goodnight may be the most famous. Likely, this is because his life mirrors that of the growing cattle industry, he founded historic ranches, and he lived well into old age. As a result, he has been the focus of several books, one of which is the main source of information for this article.
On the other hand, Loving’s life was cut short on the very trail that bears his name. Regardless of his premature death, Oliver Loving left an indelible impression on his world. Until his death over 60 years later, Goodnight still remembered Loving as “my old partner.” Many people know that Goodnight famously transported Loving’s corpse from New Mexico back to Texas. Those of you familiar with the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove, will no doubt remember Larry McMurtry’s portrayal of this.
First Herd Up the Goodnight-Loving Trail
Like most enterprises, the first herd up the Goodnight-Loving Trail did not happen overnight. In fact, in the late 1850s, Goodnight had already been growing a herd near Fort Belknap, Texas for some time. Early on, his ambitions were stymied by Comanche raids, thieves of all sorts, and the Civil War. It was during the war that Goodnight enlisted in the Texas frontier defense better known as the Texas Rangers. As a ranger, Goodnight learned the frontier, how to survive in the wilderness, and about the habits of the Native people who lived there. After he left the rangers in 1864, he once again focused his energy on building a cattle herd. Eventually, he determined the time had come to make a drive.
If you are unfamiliar with cattle drives, you need to be familiar with the purpose of the drives. Basically, after the Civil War, there was an abundance of cattle in Texas, and a large demand for beef in the north. By the 1860s, the railroad had come far enough west that Texas longhorns could be driven to the railroads, and from there be shipped east. The drives were about connecting resources to markets. If you are interested in learning more about the history of cattle drives, you should find this article worth your time.
A hard-nosed businessman, Goodnight understood the economy of his time. However, instead of driving to railroads, Goodnight had a different idea. He knew that Fort Sumner (in modern New Mexico) had been built to watch over the Bosque Redondo Indian reservation. He also knew that the fort needed to fulfill beef rations to the Native people. He was also aware that further north there were mining camps springing up in the Rocky Mountains. Rather than plan a drive north and east, Goodnight beleived a drive to the west would be more profitable.
Although there were many setbacks, in the spring of 1866 Goodnight had gathered a herd and was ready for the trail. Along the way, he happened to meet Oliver Loving who also had a herd. Goodnight persuaded the older man to throw their separate herds together and form a partnership. Eventually, Loving agreed, and the most famous partnership of the cattle drive era was formed.
Where did the Goodnight-Loving Trail Go?
As previously stated, the Goodnight-Loving Trail took a different route than most other trails, and it is the route Sam Payne’s outfit follows in my book Trail to Cheyenne. Most trails departed Texas heading north to the rails. Goodnight decided to take his cattle from the Fort Belknap area and then head southwest, before eventually turning north.
Here is a map I created showing the route. Yellow markers identify notable places prior to the drive leaving. Blue points indicate important locations along the drive referenced in the J. Evetts Haley book previously linked. The green dots reference locations Oliver Loving went as he drove some of the cattle north to Colorado after the initial delivery at Fort Sumner.
As you can see, the trail began west of Dallas, swung south to the San Angelo area, and then turned west across an 80 mile stretch of waterless wasteland. This was certainly the most difficult part of the trip. It might be worth noting that at this point, Goodnight and Loving were not blazing a trail. Instead, they were following the old Butterfield Stage route that had been developed in 1858. Although at this point the stage had been abandoned, the route was still known. Despite the fact they followed a known trail, the initial drive across the waterless region still resulted in the death of hundreds of cattle.
Eventually, the Butterfield route led them to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River. This location has an interesting history as told by J. Evetts Haley:
“(Comanche) stole great caballadas from the haciendas (in Mexico), and trailed them back to the Plains by the way of Horsehead. The origin of the name is befogged in legend, but according to old Rip Ford, returning Comanches drove so hard from the last water hole, sixty miles beyond the Pecos, that their thirsty horses sometimes drank their death of the Pecos brine. From the great number of skulls lying about, and others once stuck in mesquite to mark the crossing, the place derived its name.”
Once the cattle reached the Pecos River, navigation became a matter of following the Pecos River north to Fort Sumner.
At this point, you might be wondering why the Goodnight-Loving trail didn’t aim straight northwest from Fort Belknap toward Fort Sumner. The route they took is obviously is much further (in fact, nearly twice as far). Goodnight’s reasoning was because of the Native people of the region. As a Texas Ranger, he had learned of the Kiowa and Comanche, knew their range, habits, and realized any route traversing the heart of their lands would be doomed to failure. According to Haley, “By such a course, almost twice as long as the direct one, he might escape the Indians and eventually reach Denver.”
How Much Money did they Make?
As mentioned, Fort Sumner was the initial destination for the first Goodnight-Loving cattle drive. According to Haley, the Native people at the reservation were on the verge of starvation. As a result, Goodnight and Loving found eager buyers for their cattle in the form of US government officials. For steers that were worth maybe $3-$5 in Texas, they were now paid 8 cents a pound on the hoof. That means they were paid $80 for a 1,000-pound steer. At a time when monthly wages for most manual labor jobs hovered around $30 a month, that was big money.
What Happened Next?
Although they found a ready market for their steers, government buyers wanted nothing to do with stock cattle. In other words, they didn’t want the cows and calves. As a result, Goodnight and Loving made $12,000 selling steers, and still had perhaps 800 head of cattle. Here is where the benefits of a partnership bore fruit.
During their Fourth of July camp, Goodnight and Loving discussed what to do next. Eventually, they decided they needed to split their forces. Loving would take the cows and calves further north into Colorado, while Goodnight returned to Texas. This allowed them to do two things. First, it opened the opportunity for two drives to take place in 1866, which Goodnight would accomplish. Secondly, it allowed them another payout if Loving could find markets in Colorado, which he did.
By mid-fall of 1866, two things had happened. For starters, Goodnight had successfully returned to Texas, purchased more cattle, and returned over the Goodnight-Loving trail a second time. Also, Loving had delivered the stock cattle to Colorado and then returned to meet Goodnight in southern New Mexico. After reuniting, the pair decided to build dugouts into the side of some bluffs and wait out the winter. Over the course of the winter, they delivered cattle to Fort Sumner and even Santa Fe, which was around 200 miles away. By the end of the year 1866, the two cattlemen had made an unbelievable profit.
After 1866
News of their success quickly spread, and in the spring of 1867, they met multiple crews following the trail they had blazed. For themselves, the partners also returned to Texas to make another run. It was on this 1867 run that Oliver Loving’s would meet his end.
For a variety of reasons, Goodnight and Loving’s 1867 drive was in trouble. Not only had they suffered Indian attacks and bad weather, but competing crews had gotten a head start. News of the partner’s profits had spread quickly, and the competition had moved just as fast. This meant the partner’s beef contract was in jeopardy. In order to reach the fort in time to make a bid on upcoming contracts, Loving left the herd and rode ahead. While riding north, Loving and his companion named “One-Arm'‘ Bill Wilson were attacked by Comanche. Although they both survived the initial fight Loving was wounded. From these wounds, Loving would eventually develop infection and die many days later at Fort Sumner. Abiding by a handshake agreement made in a dugout in the middle of the New Mexico wilderness, Goodnight continued to honor their partnership after Loving’s death. Not only would he continue to pay Loving’s family their share of the earnings, but he packed Loving’s corpse back to Texas for burial at the family cemetery.
In the ensuing years, the Goodnight-Loving Trail would stretch further north. Following the Pecos River north, they eventually connected with the well-established Santa Fe Trail near Las Vegas, New Mexico. This was the route herds took to connect with growing markets in Colorado in the late 1860s. Eventually, the Goodnight-Loving Trail became a continuous route from Texas to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
For himself, Goodnight eventually moved past trail driving to become one of the first cattlemen of the central plains. He began delivering large numbers of cattle to a man named John Wesley Iliff in the spring of 1868. Iliff was a man equal to Goodnight in ambition and aspirations. Based in northeastern Colorado, Iliff’s own herds would eventually reach over 26,000 head. In 1869, Goodnight established his own ranch near Pueblo, Colorado. In this way, he took his next step in a life that would follow the development of the cattle industry on the Great Plains.
As for the trail that bore his name, other drovers would continue to use the route until the early 1880s. At this point, the development of the railroad made trail driving a thing of the past. Like many events in the history of the American frontier, the passing of the trail was remarkably fast.
Although its use lasted less than 20 years, the Goodnight-Loving Trail is a symbol of what life in the West was about. All told, the trail stretched over 1,000 miles. It was 1,000 miles of burning sun, torrential rain, wild stampedes, outlaws, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and a thousand other dangers. Knowing the dangers, a handful of men still took the risk. It was literally a gamble of life; a wager that many men paid. In the end, their sacrifices helped develop their own lives, their families, communities, and ultimately their nation. Life on the trail wasn’t easy, and perhaps Charlie Goodnight summed it up best when he said;
“It was a rough, hard, adventurous life, but was not without its sunny side, and when everything moved smoothly the trip was an agreeable diversion from the monotony of the range.”
