The Chisholm Trail: A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail

The Chisholm Trail is one of the most famous cattle trails of the Old West.

It ran for eight hundred miles, from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas, and was instrumental in creating the famous image of the cowboy.

But how was this trail created?

Who devised its route?

And why were the cattle drives across states so important for the economy of the southwest?

Sam P. Riding’s fascinating book The Chisholm Trail: A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail gives an in-depth overview of the route was created, who rode along it and how it eventually superseded by the emergence of the railways.

Through the course of the book Ridings provides details on many of the famous figures who were associated with the trail including the route’s founder Jesse Chisholm, famous ranchers like Joseph G. McCoy and Charles Goodnight, gunslingers such as Billy the Kid, and of course men who attempted to keep the peace like Charles A. Siringo.

Sam P. Ridings rode the trail many times throughout his life during the trail’s golden era and so was able to gather information from the cowboys who knew the route better than anyone else.

This work is full of fascinating stories of incidents that occurred along the length of the trail, from gunfights to religious revivals, Native American raids to cattle stampedes, during the short but vibrant years that the trail was in full use.

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the southwest in the aftermath of the Civil War and how the image of the cowboy came into being.

Sam P. Ridings was a frequent traveler on the Chisholm Trail and collected many of his stories from the men and women who had lived and worked on the trail during its golden years. His book The Chisholm Trail: A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail was first published in 1936. Ridings passed away in Kansas in 1942.

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