Transportation
9
Between 1874 and 1893, millions of cattle and horses traveled the Great Western Trail from Texas through nine U.S. states into Canada. It lasted longer, carried more cattle, and extended farther than any other cattle trail in the United States, and it significantly affected the western economy by helping establish the ranching and livestock industry. Longhorns were gathered around Matamoras, Mexico, and south Texas, then driven north through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and into Canada. The first trail herd to reach North Dakota left Texas in 1884, when cowboys drove a huge herd from the Rio Grande to the Little Missouri River. Until the trail’s decline in the 1890s, millions more cattle and horses continued north, thriving on the rich prairie grasses of the Plains. Cowboys from Texas and elsewhere also established ranches and helped shape North Dakota’s western heritage, which remained strong and prosperous.
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Watford City, North Dakota · United States
