While crossing Indian Territory, some drives were beset almost daily by Indians from the tribes that had settled there, either voluntarily or under duress. Cherokees, Seminoles, Creeks, Chikasaws and an occasional party of Comanche or Kiowa warriors would approach the trail boss and demand ‘Wahaw’–a steer–either as a toll for crossing Indian lands or as a gesture of good faith. Usually their request were granted; rejected tribesmen might start a stampede and carry off lost animals, a situation that in the long run would be more costly than turning over an undesirable animal in appeasement. The Indians’ requests became more frequent and plaintive as while buffalo hunters decimated the herds the Indians depended on, and their villages were forced to subsist on government rations, which were often tainted or erratic in coming.

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Not all such requests came from Indians, however; at least one white ‘widderlady’ living along the trail amassed a very respectable herd by talking trail bosses out of yearling and lame animals that wouldn’t make it to market. It took several seasons for the cowboys to figure out what she was up to.

A herd on the trail might string out for as much as two miles, depending on the size of the herd, the terrain, and the animals’ speed. The going was best when the herd strung out to a formation of only three or four abreast. The body heat given off by animals on the trail was terrific, and cattle in closely packed herd lost weight quickly. Riders on the downwind side of the herd compared the experience to standing beside an open furnace. Blistered faces and hands were not uncommon among the unfortunate downwind riders.

Worse than the heat was the dust. The drag riders–usually the newest hands–at the end of the herd often came off the trail so thickly covered that the color of their clothing was obscured. Theirs was the most tiresome and menial job on the trial, prodding along the sick, lame and lazy animals that constantly dropped back. Individual Longhorns almost always maintained their positions in a trailing herd throughout the drive, with a few pushing to the front everyday and others falling back, so the drag riders couldn’t even look forward to seeing different animals. To the drag riders also fell one of the drive’s most unpleasant tasks; if a pregnant cow dropped out of the herd to give birth, a drag rider stayed with her. As soon as the calf was born, the drag rider shot the newborn and drove its mother back into the herd. An outfit on the trail had no way to care for an animal that couldn’t keep up with the rest of the herd.

Up ahead of the drag riders rode the flankers on either side of the moving column…and ahead of them the swing-men. These riders were responsible for keeping the cattle spaced properly along th trail The flankers and swing-men switched positions every day, but that helped little; unless the trail boss order a change in direction, these men had little to do, and so they fought boredom all the way to Kansas. The dust and heat weren’t much better than those experienced by the drags.

The trail boss was ultimately responsible to the herds’ owner for the success of the drive (and its profit). Consequently, he spent most of his time well ahead of the herd, scouting out open, flat bed grounds for the cattle and clear, nonalkaline streams for watering both men and animals. Watering was a crucial test of the trail boss. It was quite a compliment when one trail boss was said to be able to ‘water more cattle in a small lake of water and never get it muddy than any man I ever saw.’

Assuming the herd had been well-watered and had enough time to graze along the trail (for thirsty, hungry animals stampeded easily), once the drive had covers its 10-12 mile day’s quota, the trail boss would signal the location where the herd was to bed down for the night

The trail boss waved his hat slowly, so as not to spook the animals, to indicate where he wanted the herd milled. The cowboys on the near side of the herd moved out, and those on the far side closed in, guiding the Longhorns off the trail. Once on the bed ground, the point men at the head of the column continued turning the steer until the herd formed a huge, moving circle the slowed and stopped as the animals at last spread out the graze.

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