Abeline

• Joseph McCoy created the cow town Abilene


  1867
• Abilene

  • Located in the westward zone of Kansas
  • Served as a transit point for cowboys and their herds
• Abilene's location

  • Plenty of grassland and water for the herds
  • Near the Chisholm Trail, a cattle trail from Texas
  • Near a railhead for transporting cattle
• Kansas' quarantine law allowed Texas herds to settle in Abilene as long as they were far enough away from the homesteaders to prevent disease spreading
• McCoy's development of Abilene

  1. Bought lots of land

  2. Built a hotel

  3. Built large stockyards

  4. Spent $5,000 marketing the new cow town
• Between 1867 and 1872, three million cattle were driven along the Chisholm Trail to Abilene