The Abilene Trail was a cattle trail leading from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Abilene, Kansas Abilene (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Libra ...

. Its exact route is disputed owing to its many offshoots, but it crossed the Red River just east of

Henrietta, Texas Henrietta is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,111 at the 2020 census, a decline of 30 from the 2010 tabulation of 3,141. Hi ...

, and continued north across the

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

to Caldwell, Kansas and on past Wichita and Newton to Abilene. The first herds were probably driven over it in 1866, though it was not named until Abilene was established in 1867. The earlier Shawnee-Arbuckle cattle trail was used by trail drivers from 1867 through 1870. According to Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, "When Fort Arbuckle was abandoned and

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark a ...

had become established, trail drivers moved their pathway farther west to a more direct route to Abilene, Kansas. From the 1860s through the 1880s, cowboys 'went up the trail' and 'pointed them north' to Kansas...the drovers often called the trail 'the Kansas Trail,' or the 'Abilene Trail,' because they were going in that direction." In 1867, Joseph G. McCoy developed stockyards at Abilene, along the Union Pacific Eastern Division Railroad, since "the country was entirely unsettled, well watered, excellent grass, and nearly the entire area of hecountry was adopted to holding cattle." According to Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, "Because it was late in the season, he employed W.W. Sugg, a stockman friend from his home state of

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, to ride south to intercept herds trailing to

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on the Shawnee Trail." On 5 September, the first rail carloads of cattle were on their way to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 1867, McCoy reported 35,000 head of cattle had arrived in Abilene. With more Texas cattlemen knowing of the shorter route, more than 300,000 Texas longhorns used the trail over the next two seasons. The trail eventually became known as the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

since it used the pre-existing Chisholm Wagon Road, and by 1871 Abilene was no longer accepting Texas cattle with Newton, Wichita and Ellsworth becoming the new cattle towns. The country about Abilene was settling up quickly at this time. Grazing lands were becoming scarcer and these conditions were such that many of the settlers objected to the pasturing of the great herds in the vicinity. In the year 1872, Wichita was in possession of the trade that Abilene had enjoyed for several years prior due to the completion of the Santa Fe

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. This gave Wichita the needed railroad facilities. From 1867 to 1871 about 10,000 cars of livestock were shipped out of Abilene and in 1872 about 80,000 head of cattle were shipped from Wichita. The settlement of the valleys of the

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and the Ninnescah rivers rendered it impractical to reach Wichita shipping yards after 1873 and the loading of cattle was transferred to points on the railroad farther west, finally stopping at Dodge City. The use of the Abilene cattle trail ended in 1887.

References

*This article incorporates text from ''Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc.'', published in 1912 {{coord missing, Kansas Historic trails and roads in Texas Historic trails and roads in Kansas Trails and roads in the American Old West