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Joseph G. McCoy: The Man Who Brought Texas Cattle to Abilene

An Illinois mule and cattle dealer who built stockyards beside the railroad at Abilene and opened a market for Texas Longhorns.

Who Was Joseph G. McCoy?

Joseph Geiting McCoy was born December 21, 1837, in Sangamon County, Illinois, one of eleven children of a farming family, according to Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia.com biography. He attended local schools and spent a year at the academy of Knox College in Galesburg. In 1861 he married Sarah Epler and began dealing in mules and cattle.

A railcar of mules sold in Kentucky in 1861 gave him his first big financial success and taught him how rail shipping worked. After the Civil War he bought animals in volume and shipped them to major livestock centers. That experience shaped the plan that made his name.

The Problem Texas Ranchers Faced

After the war Texas had large herds of Longhorns and few ways to reach buyers in the East. Kansas homesteaders feared the ticks carried by Texas cattle, which spread Texas fever to local herds, and quarantine lines kept drovers away from settled land.

McCoy's idea was a stock depot on the plains, at a railroad, outside the quarantine lines, where Texas herds could be sold and shipped east, where beef prices were higher. Railroad builders thought it impractical, Encyclopedia.com says, and the Kansas Pacific cooperated only on condition that he take on all the financial risk.

Why McCoy Chose Abilene in 1867

According to the Abilene, Kansas, history blog, McCoy came to Kansas in 1867 after leaving a prosperous Illinois farm. Junction City, Solomon City and Salina turned him down before he chose Abilene. In mid-June 1867 he reached an agreement with local farmers and persuaded Governor Samuel Crawford to allow Texas cattle inside the quarantine lines.

Within a month he began building loading pens. He bought a 250-acre tract at the edge of town and built pens for 1,000 head, the Drover's Cottage hotel, a bank, an office and a livery stable, Encyclopedia.com reports. The Abilene history site adds that he sent men south to Texas to find struggling herds and direct them to Abilene.

The Season of 1867 and the Cattle Shipments

The first herds arrived in August 1867. On August 15, 7,000 longhorns reached Abilene before the pens were finished, and the first season ended with 35,000 head. The Abilene history site lists later totals of 75,000 in 1868, 150,000 in 1869, 300,000 in 1870 and 600,000 in 1871. Encyclopedia.com says the total roughly doubled from 1868 to 1870, so counts differ between sources.

McCoy hired surveyor Timothy Hersey to survey the route and build dirt mounds to mark it. The route was not called the Chisholm Trail at the time, the Abilene site says. That name came later, from a path Jesse Chisholm used as a trade route near Wichita.

Marketing the Longhorn and Fighting the Railroad

In 1868, buyers worried about Texas fever. McCoy answered with a show of cowboys capturing and riding bison, elk and wild horses, staged in St. Louis and Chicago, then a buffalo hunt in Abilene and a chance for buyers to see the waiting longhorns. Sales recovered.

He also made a verbal agreement with the railroad, reported as the Union Pacific in the Abilene history site and the Kansas Pacific elsewhere, to pay him $5 per car. No contract was signed. After the 1868 season more than $200,000 was owed to him, the railway refused to pay, and McCoy accepted a promise of a new contract that never came. He sued and was paid several years later.

The Key to McCoy's Success

McCoy's record shows a promoter who understood freight, risk and publicity at the same time. He solved a transportation problem that others considered impractical and was willing to carry the cost of proving it.

There were costs. Abilene grew rowdy, and sources differ on how many cowboys were paid in a single day, from 1,000 on the Abilene site to as many as 5,000 in 1871 on Wikipedia. Texas fever and the quarantine disputes were genuine economic and public health concerns for Kansas farmers.

  • Used his mule and cattle shipping experience to design a market around railroad logistics.
  • Took on the financial risk that the railroad required before it would cooperate.
  • Built a full service town center: pens, a hotel, a bank, an office and a livery stable.
  • Advertised in Texas and sent agents south so drovers knew where to go.
  • Responded to buyer fears with promotion, though it cost him later disputes with the railroad.

Mayor, Author and Later Years

As Abilene's leading citizen McCoy was elected mayor. The Abilene site says that in 1872, as mayor, he disagreed with the ordinance banning Texas longhorns, and he later wrote bitterly about the town's decline. Rival towns drew trade away, and he moved on to promote Wichita in 1872, then worked as a livestock commission dealer in Kansas City by 1880. He reported on the livestock industry for the eleventh U.S. Census and served as a Cherokee Nation agent collecting land revenues in Oklahoma. In 1890 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat.

His book, Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, appeared in 1874 and remains the main firsthand account of the trade. He died in Kansas City on October 19, 1915, at 77, and was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1967. For more cattle history, see farm.FM's ranching section or read a farm.FM story about the cattle drives.

Timeline

  1. 1837Born December 21 in Sangamon County, Illinois.
  2. 1861Marries Sarah Epler and sells his first railcar of mules in Kentucky.
  3. 1867Opens the Abilene cattle market; first herds arrive in August and 35,000 head ship that season.
  4. 1868Stages shows for buyers to counter Texas fever fears; 75,000 head arrive.
  5. 1872Serves as Abilene's mayor and moves on to promote Wichita.
  6. 1874Publishes Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest.
  7. 1890Runs unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat.
  8. 1915Dies October 19 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Joseph G. McCoy?

Joseph G. McCoy was an Illinois mule and cattle dealer who opened the Abilene, Kansas, cattle market in 1867, giving Texas ranchers a railhead where Longhorn herds could be sold and shipped east. He later wrote a history of the cattle trade.

Why did Joseph McCoy choose Abilene?

After Junction City, Solomon City and Salina turned him down, McCoy chose Abilene in 1867. He then secured local farmers' agreement and Governor Samuel Crawford's permission to bring Texas cattle inside the quarantine lines.

What is Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade?

It is McCoy's 1874 book, published in Kansas City, Missouri, and reprinted in 1966. It is regarded as his main firsthand account of the Texas cattle trade and the founding of the Abilene market.

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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