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Cattle Drive Heroes and Trail Bosses

John T. Lytle: The Texas Trailing Contractor Who Moved Half a Million Cattle

From a Pennsylvania-born sergeant to the manager of one of Texas's largest trail-driving firms, Lytle organized the drives that stocked the northern ranges.

Who was John Thomas Lytle?

John Thomas Lytle was the organizer behind some of the biggest trail drives out of South Texas. He did not simply ride with herds. He ran a business that gathered cattle from ranchers, hired the crews, arranged the routes and found the buyers at the railheads. The Handbook of Texas entry says the firm he formed ultimately handled more than a half million cattle.

Born on October 8, 1844, in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania, he came to San Antonio with his family in 1860 and died there on January 10, 1907.

From a clerk's desk to an Atascosa County ranch

In San Antonio Lytle worked in the Bexar County clerk's office until poor health forced him to resign in 1861. He moved to his uncle William Lytle's ranch in Atascosa County, where outdoor work restored his health. From 1863 to 1865 he served in Company H of the Thirty-second Texas Cavalry and rose to sergeant.

After his discharge he returned to the ranch, and in 1867 he started his own ranch near Castroville. He married Elizabeth Noonan of Medina County in 1869, and they had two children.

Building the trailing firm

In 1871 Lytle formed a partnership with his cousin Thomas M. McDaniel in what is now Lytle, Texas. The purpose was to trail the herds of area ranchers to northern railheads and ranges. Over the next three years he personally conducted a number of drives to Kansas.

In 1874 Charles A. Schreiner of Kerrville and John W. Light of Kimble County joined the firm, adding capital and prestige. The company operated from Lytle and Kerrville and became one of the most outstanding in Texas. As it grew, Lytle turned management of the trail herds over to employees, but he kept supervising how drives were organized in Texas and how cattle were sold at the railheads.

What a trailing contractor did

After the Civil War, Texas had the cattle and the northern states had the demand. BlackPast's account of the drives explains that railroad depots in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado were the destination, with cattle shipped on to slaughterhouses in Chicago and other cities.

A trailing firm sat in the middle. Ranchers who could not spare crews or take the risk handed herds to a contractor, who assembled them into trail herds. BlackPast mentions a 1885 herd of 2,000 steers sent north by Lytle and Stevens and bossed by a Black Texan, Al Jones, a reminder that the crews were mixed.

The Key to Lytle's Success

Lytle's record shows a manager who scaled by adding partners and delegating, while keeping control of the parts of the business that carried the most risk: planning the drive and selling at the end.

The sources do not document his finances or his employees in detail, so the lessons below stay with what the Handbook states.

  • He started with a trusted partner, his cousin Thomas McDaniel, and personally led early drives to Kansas.
  • He brought in Charles Schreiner and John Light in 1874, adding capital and local credibility.
  • He operated from two towns, Lytle and Kerrville.
  • He turned trail management over to employees as volume grew, while he stayed on organization and sales.
  • He moved into the related businesses of stockyards, commission selling and ranch investment.
  • He joined industry groups and rose to office in the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association.

Stockyards, Mexico and the cattle raisers

In 1887 Schreiner bought full control of the trailing firm. Lytle then became general manager of the American Cattle Syndicate's Texas holdings, resigning in 1891 to focus on his own ranching.

With George W. Saunders and Jesse Presnall, he established the Union Stock Yards in San Antonio in 1886. Another Handbook entry, on George W. Saunders, dates the Union Station Stock Yards construction to 1889, so the exact year differs between sources. In 1889 Lytle also joined Thomas Jefferson Moore, John Rufus Blocker and W. H. Jennings in buying the half-million-acre Piedra Blanca Ranch in Coahuila, Mexico, and he helped found the Southwestern Livestock Commission Company at Fort Worth.

Legacy with the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association

In 1901 Lytle was elected vice president and executive committee member of the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association. Three years later he was named secretary, a salaried position he held until his death from influenza in San Antonio on January 10, 1907.

Lytle's name survives in the town where his trailing firm began. For related stories, see the ranching coverage on farm.FM and a farm.FM story about Texas trail drovers.

Timeline

  1. 1844Born in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania
  2. 1860Moves to San Antonio
  3. 1863Begins Confederate service in the Thirty-second Texas Cavalry
  4. 1867Establishes his own ranch near Castroville
  5. 1871Forms trailing partnership with Thomas McDaniel
  6. 1874Schreiner and Light join the firm
  7. 1886Helps establish the Union Stock Yards in San Antonio
  8. 1904Named secretary of the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association
  9. 1907Dies in San Antonio, January 10

Frequently asked questions

Who was John T. Lytle?

John Thomas Lytle (1844-1907) was a Texas trail driver and rancher whose trailing firm handled more than half a million cattle and who later served the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association.

How many cattle did Lytle's firm drive?

The Handbook of Texas says the trailing firm ultimately handled more than a half million cattle, operating out of Lytle and Kerrville.

Who were Lytle's partners?

He began with his cousin Thomas M. McDaniel in 1871, and Charles A. Schreiner and John W. Light joined in 1874. Schreiner bought full control in 1887.

What was the Piedra Blanca Ranch?

It was a half-million-acre ranch in Coahuila, Mexico, bought in 1889 by Lytle, Thomas Jefferson Moore, John Rufus Blocker and W. H. Jennings.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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