During the mass slaughter of buffaloes in the Panhandle, two trails arose to meet the needs of hunters and their ever-hungry markets. Started about 1876, both carried vast convoys of wagons across the plains. Charles Rath, transporting gun powder, lead, tobacco, whiskey, and food staples, blazed a road from Dodge City to the Double Mountains, but within two years the best hunting was over and that route fell into disuse. Ed Jones and Joe Plummer forged a trail from Kansas to Ft. Elliott, and their route became a freight road and finally a cattle trail.