A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



ment to the northwest, while scattered through the 

 individual sketches of the old trail drivers' book I 

 find records of trails to Cheyenne and even Utah in 

 1870 or earlier. After a good deal of reading on the 

 subject, I think it fair to divide the trail industry 

 into two sections: First to Kansas and Nebraska 

 (1866 to 1880) and, second, to the northwest (1874 

 to 1889), There were undoubtedly interlocking trails 

 and trails subsequent to 1888. Ogallala, Neb., per- 

 haps comes in for the widest range of dates. It 

 is spoken of in the data which I have been studying 

 as "the northern market." I find in individual cases 

 many records of cattle taken on from Ogallala to 

 northwestern points, but usually sold there, and dif- 

 ferent outfits taking them on. In a general way, 

 I think all trails to Ogallala must be thought of as 

 reaching a point for distribution. In compiling what 

 follows I have gone carefully over more than 1,000 

 pages of various early histories, mostly made up of 

 individual experiences. It must be remembered that 

 Indian troubles occurred more or less all the time, 

 and that they were naturally worse on the north- 

 west trail. Many trail bosses record keeping peace 

 with the Indians by giving them a beef every day. 

 I have not, however, attempted to portray the thrill- 

 ing incidents of trails over eighteen years. Through- 

 out my study of records, and in the course of talks 

 with old trail drivers, dates have been the most dif- 

 ficult to obtain. Alvin H. Sanders in his chapter 



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