Cattle Trails

Locate the Chisholm and Great Western trails, and say why they existed.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 10

All aboard! This world covers the years when America grew bigger, better, and faster. We'll start with cattle. After the Civil War, millions of longhorn cattle roamed Texas.
Cities in the North and East wanted beef, but Texas had no railroad going there. So cowboys walked the cattle north, for months, to towns on the railroad. That's a cattle drive.
The Chisholm Trail, shown in red, ran from Texas up to Abilene, Kansas, starting in 1867. It's named for Jesse Chisholm, a trader of Scottish and Cherokee heritage.
Farther west ran the Great Western Trail, shown in blue, through Dodge City, Kansas, and on toward Nebraska. As farms and fences spread across Kansas, herds moved west.
Both trails crossed Indian Territory, the home of American Indian nations. Some nations charged a toll for each herd that crossed.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS5H1.a — Describe the role of the cattle trails in the late 19th century; include the Black Cowboys of Texas, the Great Western Cattle Trail, and the Chisholm Trail.
SS5G1.a — Locate important man-made places; include the Chisholm Trail; Pittsburgh, PA; Kitty Hawk, NC; Pearl Harbor, HI; Montgomery, AL.; and Chicago, IL.