The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997 Page: 479
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
The Antebellum Texas Cattle Trade
heavy rolling was detrimental to the cattle.8 The issue of high freights
will be discussed later. Despite these disadvantages, a growing trans-Gulf
trade was developing throughout the 18505. Wayne Gard writes:
Beginning in 1848, steamers carried some Longhorns from various Texas Gulf
ports to New Orleans. Those shipped from Galveston from 1850 to 1856 were
reported to range from 2,900 to 6,ooo.9
The Galveston trade continued during the waning days of the antebel-
lum era. The September to, 1857, Galveston News (Tri-Weekly) annual re-
port for September 1, 1856, through August 30, 1857, listed shipment
of 5,200 head of cattle from Galveston port. The author of a history of
Galveston listed the receipts of cattle at Galveston for 1859 as 4,494 and
for 186o as 11,245. Two Galveston newspapers, the Weekly News and the
Galveston News (Tri-Weekly), did not always mention cattle in their annual
summaries of Galveston trade before the Civil War, nor did they list
freights for cattle. Apparently cattle did not comprise a significant
enough portion of the Galveston economy. One reason was the difficulty
in driving cattle to Galveston Island. Galveston was not the only Texas
port exporting cattle, and many of the cattle listed in the above figures
probably had been shipped from Indianola to Galveston en route to
New Orleans:
The Crescent City's hold on the receding coastal cattle frontier strengthened
with the advent of steamship cattle transport, and the port town of Indianola
thrived as the major handler of Texas cattle shipped by sea to New Orleans.o
8 The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported: "Mr. Ruff claimed that the transportation of live
cattle by sailing vessels was more satisfactory than by means of steamships, for the reason that in
storms schooners, not being obliged to make the fast time required by the mail contracts held by
the steamship company, could lay off and prevent the heavy rolling of the vessel, so disastrous to
cargoes of cattle carried by steam vessels." As a case illustrating this fact he cited the instance of a
severe gale to which a Morgan steamer and one of his own schooners were both exposed. The
steamer lost 150 cattle, while his sailing vessel lost but one (U.S. Tenth Census-z88o, Agriculture,
977).
However, shipping cattle by railroad also elicited much unfavorable comment. In his history
on railroads and the Federal government, Haney cites a Congressional investigation during the
188os which revealed that prior to improvements, "shrinkage" of cattle en route between Chica-
go and Boston averaged 50 pounds. W. H. Haney, "A Congressional History of Railroads in the
United States, 1850-1887," Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, VI (Madison: The University of
Wisconsin, 191 o), 267. The Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture in 1870 discussed the deleteri-
ous effects of rail shipments, with the later report concluding that, "a thousand miles' ride takes
ioo to 500 pounds of flesh from an animal." "The Texas Cattle Trade," in U.S. Report of the Com-
missioner ofAgriculture, 187o (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1870), 251.
9 Gard, The Chisholm Trail, 24, and McCoy, Historical Sketches, 24, cite Galveston Commercial and
Weekly Prices Current, Sept. 1, 1856.
10 Terry G. Jordan, Trails to Texas: Southern Roots of Western Cattle Ranching (Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 1981), 133 (quotation); Charles W. Hayes, Galveston-History of the Island and
the City (1879; reprint, Austin:Jenkins Pubhshing Co., 1974), 749, 754-1997
479
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 156 pages within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997, periodical, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101218/m1/557/?q=central+place+railroads: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.