Full Transcript for The Texas Cattle Drive

WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.799 Welcome back to the Texan Edge. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:09.519 I'm your host, Tweet Scott. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.720 Close your eyes, unless you're driving, and listen for a moment. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:24.480 Hoof beats in dust, leather creaking, a low murmur of voices, and somewhere out there a river running high from spring rains. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:27.120 No, we're not on the freeway anymore. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.039 We're on the trail. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:40.560 This week in Texas history, we tip our hat to the great cattle drives that helped turn this state from a windswept frontier into an economic powerhouse. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:46.000 In the years after the Civil War, Texas was rich in one thing. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:55.280 If that even. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:03.679 But up north, in the growing cities and the rail towns, that same animal could bring nearly ten times the price. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.840 So what's the problem? 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:14.079 Getting a thousand restless, horn swinging rivershy animals hundreds of miles across untamed territory. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:15.519 That's the problem. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:23.359 Picture a crew of mostly young men, some barely more than boys, saddling up in the gray light before dawn. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:40.560 You had seasoned trail bosses, black cowboys who had earned their skills the hard way, Mexican baquettos whose roping and riding traditions shaped the whole culture, and plenty of new hands just hoping they could keep their ass in the saddle. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:51.280 They pushed the herd slowly north along routes like the Chisholm Trail or the Goodnight Loving Trail up from South and Central Texas toward the Kansas railheads. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.519 Look, this wasn't a Sunday drive. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:02:03.840 It was weeks and months of dust, heat, sudden storms, swollen rivers, and there was always, always the risk of a stampede. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:10.080 At night the men would circle the herd singing low, steady songs to calm the cattle. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:15.680 The stars overhead were the same ones that you see in a clear Texas night now. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:23.360 But for them, those stars were also a clock, a map, and sometimes just a comfort. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:28.319 When they reached a major river, think about the Red River, for instance. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:34.560 Deep and fast and the spring runoff, you know it's really moving quickly. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:39.039 Everything could be lost in one single bad decision. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:47.199 The trail boss had to choose the crossing point, judge the current, and trust that the herd would follow. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.800 One wrong move, and you could lose cattle, horses, or men. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:03.039 One right move, and the herd came out dripping and snorting on the far bank, shaking off the water and pushing on toward the payday. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:07.680 Those drives didn't last forever, although it probably felt like they did. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:13.759 Barbed wire fences and the new rail lines changed the way the cattle business even worked. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:21.599 But in those short, intense years, the Texas trails carved more than dusty paths into the prairie. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.879 They carved the image of the Texas cowboy into the American imagination. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.520 They connected Texas beef to plates all across the country. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:40.639 They turned sleepy trail towns into bustling cities and helped tie this big, wild state into the national economy. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:58.719 And they left us with a legacy, the idea that Texans are the kind of people who can move something big and unruly, whether it's cattle or a company or even a community from point A to point B when the rest of the world thinks that it can't be done. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:03.199 So as you go about your day today, think about your own cattle drive. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:10.080 You may not be pushing longhorns across the prairie, but maybe you're moving a family through some hard season. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:16.639 Maybe you're building a business or guiding a classroom or possibly caring for a neighborhood. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.279 Progress often feels slow. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:21.519 Days run together. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:24.879 There's dust in your teeth and blisters on your spirit. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.879 But look up at the sky tonight. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:31.759 Those same stars that watched over the trail crews watch over you. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:37.680 Take the next mile and sing your own song to calm the herd in your life. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:46.800 And remember, this week in Texas history, ordinary men doing extraordinary work on the cattle trails. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:51.439 They help build the foundation that we walk on today. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:58.639 I'm Tweed Scott, and this is the Texan Edge, where we remember why Texas still matters. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.399 We'll see you soon. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:02.079 Thanks for being here.