joseph mccoy

• In 1867 a branch line of the kansas pacific railroad reached abilene kansas 
• By 1867 kansas had relaxed quarantine rules combating texas fever a viral disease affecting cattle making it more practical to drive cattle from texas to abilene 
• Mccoy bough 450 acres of land at $5 an acre and built stockyards to load the cattle. The Kansas pacific railroad agreed to favourable rates. A hotel for businessmen was built and the cow town was born.
• Cowboys could drive the cattle through grasslands in indian territory on the established  Chisholm trail, a trail marked out by McCoy himself. The cattle could then be directly loaded on the the cattle boxcars 
• Mccoy realised that abilene was the ideal place to load cattle for northern journeys 
• $5,000 was spent on marketing and 39,000 cattle were driven to abilene in 1867. 3 millions were driven there in 5 years