Evening, its very encouraging and exciting for us here at the museum to have folks come in for our events. We really appreciate it. And i know that the staff of the raven bookstore appreciates it as well. So now ill introduce tonights guest speaker. James e. Sherow is a professor in the department of history at kansas state university. He specializes in researching and teaching environmental history, kansas history, and the history of the american west. Professor sherow has written six books and numerous articles, including Railroad Empire across the heartland, rephotographing Alexander Gardners westward journey, which is a familiar resource for the staff and volunteers at the watkins. I know we have that book on our shelves and weve used it. And the grasslands of the United States. Tonight, professor sherow will discuss his latest work, and copies will be available for purchase and signing thanks to our partners at the raven bookstore right here in lawrence, kansas. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming james e. Sherow. [ applause ] well, thank you, will. That was a generous introduction. I appreciate that. And thank you for hosting me here at the watkins tonight. I really, really am honored by this. And also, the raven bookstore, thank you for hosting as well. This is quite the privilege. So ill start with a question that came to my mind as i started researching this book because why in the world would anybody want to do another book on the chisholm trail . Its been in so many movies and novels. So my approach to this was to take it and ask some different questions than had been asked before and do this within an environmental historical context. So the main things i was looking at, i wanted to follow joseph mccoys life because his life really encompasses everything that this trail system was about. So when i look at his life and the opening of the chisholm trail, im asking, why the trail . Why was this important in the first place . And why was the trail done at this particular moment in time . And more importantly, why joseph mccoy . Why this particular individual . And what was his legacy . And as i came to an overarching conclusion about what all this meant, i said it all has to do with one word, connections. So in the brief two decades that this trail system was in place, you see a really remarkable transformation of the american grasslands. Its and ecological tr transformation that the trail system, in many ways, made possible. Two individuals understood that transformation. One was james r. Mead. He was a fur trapper, indian trader, later helped put together wichita. He was involved in the cattle trade. He saw a lot, experienced a lot. The other fellow is colonel john p. Hatch, a Civil War Veteran who was a commander at ft. Sill. Be both of these individuals witnessed, in meads case, the destruction of the bison he actually helped create because he was a fur trader. But he lamented that later in his life. And as cattle came into play across the grasslands, replacing bison, he longed for that older grasslands, that older prairie system of wild animals. Throughout his life, he lamented that transformation, which he was a part of in the first place. Hatch, the commander at ft. Sill, was there working. He was also observing what was happening as a result of the disappearance of bison, the grazing of cattle, and the influx of farming and how that was transforming the ecology of the grasslands around ft. Sill, going from a mixed grass, tall grass system down to a short sparse grass system covered by brush. What caused that kind of ecological transformation . And hatch is important for another reason as well. He was there in his mind to help go from bison hunting to becoming pastoralists, raising cattle, and eventually reaching that higher realm of civilization as he thought about it, becoming farmers. So this was these two individuals really saw what was going on. The people who always seemed to be on the losing end of this whole grand story were the indian peoples who occupied the grasslands prior to the cattle trades. Some of these individuals were in part responsible for it. And some of them wanted to be involved in it. Black beaver was involved in the fur trade across the american west, but when he came back to present day oklahoma, called the indian territory at the time, he took up ranching. He had a sizable cattle herd himself. He was a wealthy individual, had a sizable farm. A very interesting individual who also did trading, and he went up and down what later became the chisholm trail. The principal chief of the cherokees later on in the 1880s, 1890s was trying also to control the cattle trade that the cherokees controlled in what was called the cherokee strip. He wanted to regulate and tax the cattlemen who were grazing their herds on indian land. And he had his own herds. Before the civil war, its amazing the cherokees had their own brand of cattle. In fact, in indian territory, among the five civilized tribes, it was estimated prior to the civil war collectively these five nations had over 250,000 cattle. Some of the ranchers, indian ranchers, had as many as 10,000 in their herds. So we need to rethink how we think about indian peoples in the cattle trade. General pleasant porter, a creek. He was a general in the civil war with the confederacy. Some of the indian peoples did fight with the confederacy, and he was one. But after the civil war, he took up ranching again, and he was very concerned about whose right it was to control leasing on creek land. The creeks were well known for being cattle racers. So was it going to be the federal government who controlled how they did the leasing, or were indians actually sovereign nations . He said by treaty, were sovereign nations, and we ought to be able to control what we do. But they werent able to. Eventually all of these individuals lose out completely. Theyre the ones who bore the brunt of this, as well as the landscapes that they once occupied and maintained. Well, when i think about this, then im thinking, well, how do i tell this story . This individual, joseph mccoy, is a good person to follow in doing this. The story can be told by following his life and what he did. His great gamble on the chisholm, the legacy of that gamble, and what was this . Well, in 1889, he was attending the Second Annual meeting of the Livestock Association in denver, colorado. These were stockmen. We need to understand the distinction between stockmen and cowboys. Stockmen owned the herds. They owned the land. They were the ones who controlled the trade from top to bottom. So on this grand setting here, this stage, mccoy is going to be honored and given a lifetime membership for in this organization for what he meant to developing the modern cattle trade that was on the cusp of beginning in the 20th century. When they talked about him, they talked about his work being a mission. Now, thats an interesting statement to say in the cattle trade im pursuing a mission. But it was con tetemplating the benefits to mankind at large, particularly mccoy wanted to produce enough beef to feed the working class people of the United States, who before this time were unable to afford it. But they also talked about ecological changes that were coming about as well. To make the wilderness to bloom and blossom as the rose, thats how he was introduced as being a person who did this. And mccoy, when he thought about himself, and when he thought about stockmen altogether, its interesting to note how he framed this. He said, they are the best of fathers, the most ardent of lovers. Thats an interesting comment. Affectionate husbands, the best men. Now, here is where he goes in a different direction than we think a lot of other people might go. They are gods noblemen. Now, hes using that word noblemen very precisely. And stockmen thought of themselves as knight errants. They werent the jeffersonian agrarian farmer just doing a little patch of 160 acres of wheat. These were men on a grand scale who lived in very large homes, large ranches, employed hundreds of individuals. In some cases, maybe had herds ranging up to 100,000 animals. These were men who thought on a large scale. And in this respect, when they talk about being gods chosen, this doesnt kind of fit into that american ideal of the landowning farmer being the backbone of the republic, does it . These are men of a different caste. Theyre pursuing something quite grand, as he did. So where do i want to begin the story . Well, where everyone began a cattle trail story about particularly texas cattle, you begin on the streets of new york city. And this is where i began this work. In the post civil war era, new york city was the largest city in the United States. Over a million people. And there were people coming in to it constantly. When you considered the south at the end of the civil war, all of its cities were devastated. Some of them in complete ruin. New york city was growing throughout the entire civil war and amassing riches and amassing lots of people and lots of hungry people. I cannot imagine what new york city was like in 1866. I tried to explain it a little bit. Not only were there people crowded in the streets, but there were horses and Draft Animals constantly running through the streets. We all know what those animals leave behind. And not only were the streets covered with the manure of these Draft Animals, were wild hogs running through the streets of the city as well, as well as domestic hogs shepherded to the various butchers. And then there were wild dogs as well as domesticated dogs running the streets. There were herds of sheep driven through the streets of the city every day. But more interestingly, from my perspective, and this came out of leslies illustrated, there were cattle driven down the streets of new york city every single day. Thousands of cattle. It boggles my mind to think about cattle driven up 5th avenue, but that was the case during this time. And if you look at the island of manhattan and from 40th street to battery park, down to the southern tip of the island, thats called the slaughter House District. Well, theres a reason for that. There were, in this area, around 200 slaughter houses working daily. Taking the animals, doing live slaughtering in that district, and throwing about 55 of the animal back into these barrels that the wild hogs would come and eat out of. It must have been an amazing scene altogether. This is where the large markets were. This is the new jersey shore here, and this is washington market. So the quarters of the beef would be butchered. Then some of them would be hung on aisles. People at the time reporters talked about these crimson curtains lining the aisles of the market here. Those were the quarters of beef hanging there for people to come around and buy. Now, in 1866, whats amazing to me about this as well, there was an individual walking these streets also selling cattle. He was from illinois. His name was william mccoy. He had an office there. He had two younger brothers back in springfield, joseph and james. In whats going to be their understanding of the new york market that was going to drive them into eventually creating what we know now as the chisholm trail. See, there were changing tastes and dining at this time, particularly motivated by restaurants like delmonicos in new york. One of abraham lincolns favorite treats when he went to dine at delmonicos was their delmonico steak, about a 20ounce cut of sirloin. It still amazes me that lincoln could eat that and still not put on much weight. But the dining at delmonicos was amazing and very elaborate, many courses. But beef was starting to replace other cuts, particularly lamb, but also seafood, as beef became more popular. Well, mccoy also realized that with all the poorer people in the city, that this was also potential market for cheap meat, if you could get it into that market. These were the stock trains that came into the city on a daily basis, bringing cattle from particularly one state altogether, and that was illinois. Thats where most of the cattle well into the whole trail driving years, those 20 years, most of the cattle coming in to new york city was from the state of illinois. Very seldom were texas cattle themselves driven directly to new york city. This would have been a disastrous thing for anybody involved in the trade financially, that is. Ill explain this in just a little bit. But these were the trains that were bringing the cattle in, like i said, on a daily basis. And cattle were coming from all over the place. They were coming from kentucky, ohio. They were coming down from canada in the province of ontario, supplied a lot of cattle to the new york markets. This is because there was no way that the farmers in the state of new york could supply enough food to feed all the people just simply in new york city. Thats not saying anything else about all the other cities that are along the east coast and growing large at the same time. If youre wondering how strong those markets are and what prompted the mccoy brothers to think maybe we can make a good killing in this business, so to speak, and so if you look at this, ive traced the cattle trade from 1866 through 1884. The blue line here is the cattle that were driven north out of texas each season. The orangish line here is the cattle that was received into new york city. So if you look at this, theres only a couple years where even all the cattle driven out of texas would have supplied the city of new york. Only two years. Thats how strong just one citys market was for beef. And so knowing this, boy, if you could just start getting your cattle into that, especially if theyre cheap cattle in texas, then you can make a lot of money by the time it gets into this heated market here in new york city. And thats the whole goal. One of the people who realized this very early on was a fellow by the name of samuel allerton. Allerton realized a couple things. One, city streets were really getting messy no matter where you went in the United States. Chicago was a mess for the same reasons that new york city streets were. St. Louis had the same problems. So allerton pittsburgh had the same problems. So allerton decided, ill put together what are called Union Stockyards. Now, he was the first to do this, and the first one was in pittsburgh. What a Union Stockyard does, it takes railroad lines, connects them to stockyards, connects them to a slaughter house, connects it all in the same setting with maybe a hotel and business facility for the people who are engaged in the trade. A Union Stockyard where all of this is done in one setting, and you take all that mess out of the city streets. Boy, that was something people were looking forward to in a big kind of way. His Second Venture was creating the chicago Union Stockyards, which are famous in history for, you know, being the meat market, the hog city of the world. And this he opened in december 25th, 1865. A very big gift to the city of chicago. The second one was in jersey. So here is the whole thing being done in jersey. Then ferries would take the slaughtered animals, the slaughtered meat to the new york shore. So the trains would arrive into the stockyards, into the holding pens, into the slaughter house, and all the business was conducted right here. All of this in one great union where everything is brought together in one setting. So this was a great advance on this. So this started the mccoy brothers thinking, maybe we can put together Something Like this in kansas and capture the trade from texas. Now, john Tracy Alexander was an individual in illinois who the mccoy brothers knew very well. He ran an operation of about 80,000 acres where he raised corn and then over winter, beef, put weight on them and put them into the new york markets. He was probably the largest operator in all of illinois. So what the mccoy brothers wanted to do was channel texas cattle, which were very cheap because they had nowhere to go during the civil war, and get them into a Transportation System and then take them to buyers like alexander in illinois who would buy them and fatten them up. So the mccoy brothers were interested in being middlemen in this whole system. They werent interested in being cowboys themselves. They werent interested in the buying and selling of livestock. In essence, so was alexander. He kept them over the winter, get them fat on hay, get them fat on corn, and then get them into that new york market. Because each extra pound is more money that you make. So this is the result in that wonderful thriving me ttropolisf abilene in 1867, all of about two huts. One run by an interesting fellow by the name of josiah jones. Prior to prohibition in kansas, he had a little whisky shop there in abilene. There used to be a stage route that ran through here. He would give people a little whisky to help them get on their way to denver. He was also known as the mayor of prairie dog town. Thats because he would capture prairie dogs and sell them to the people on the stagecoach after they had enough to drink, presumably. Then off they would go. That was a thriving business in abilene, before the mccoy brothers got there. So the mccoy brothers put together what they called the Great Western stockyards. Now, i dont know about you, but when i think about the stockyards in chicago, i think about the stockyards in new jersey. Something is lacking here in the word great. But you cant see it really well, but Alexander Gardner, who took this photograph in 1867, a very wellknown photographer, caught the signs up here. Great western stockyards. Right above there. I tend to think, given the stature of this individual, that that may have been joseph mccoy standing up there taking all this in. So what motivated him and his brothers to put in this tens of thousands of dollars into this operation . Well, it was this. Eventually theyre going to put a hotel there as part of the great Union Stockyards. Its called the drovers got taj. Thats where the businessmen came. Thats where the main stockmen came. Not the cowboys. Thats where they did their business. They had a nice billiard hall, a nice saloon. Things were very comfortably set up for them. So this is where the cattle were loaded. But why in the world abilene . Well, theres a reason for this, and im going to get to it in a little bit, but it had to do with something called texas fever. In 1866, the texas cattlemen finally got their act together enough to recover from the civil war