T hewhole co u ntr ywatchedwithgrowing
excitementastherw o lines graduallyapproached nne
another.Uo thmovedforwardasfastastheycould,
for thegrantsoflandan dmoneythateach co m pan y
receivedfromtheg o vern men tdependeduponhow
manymiles o f r ailroadtrackit built.Fin ally,onMdY
10, 1869. th eCentralPacificandtheUnionPacific
linesmetat Pr o m o n toryP OliHinUtah. A go lden
sp ik e fixed the-last rail intoposition.Thefirst
railroa dacrosstheNorthAmericancon rinenrwas
completed.
T he ncvv railroadwas quicklyjoinedbyothers.By
1884 fourmorem ajorlines had cro ssedthe conti nen t
to link the Mississippiv alley wit h th e Pacific Coast.
T hese rrnusco nnn en ralrailroads red u ced the time
thatitto o k to t ravel acro ssthe United Statesfrom
week sto days.
As th e railro ad spushed west, carrieran ch ersin Texas
sawawaytom akemoney.Theycouldfeed catt le
cheap ly 011 theg rasslandsbetweenthe Mississippi
and the Rockies.Whynotusethenew railroadsto
t ransportthecattle toeasterncitieswherebuyers
werehungr yfor meat?
In the yearsafterth e C ivilWar, Texascattleowners
hiredmen called"drovers"o r " cowboys"todrive
th eirhalf-w ildlonghorncattlenort htotherailro ads.
T hecowboy'slitew aso neofe xha ustin gwork,poor
foodandlowpay.Burtom anyyoungmen it seemed
freeand exciting.Manycowboyswere f o rm er
Confederat esoldierswhoh admovedwcsrafrer the
C ivilW3r. Somewereblacke x-s lavesfromsouthern
plantations.O therswereboysfromfarmsin theeast
whowanteda lifew irhmoreadventurethan farm ing
couldofferthem.
The canlctr aveledalongregu larroutes called
"trails. "At th e start o f a rraildrivethe-covvboys
m o vedth e h erd s quickl y.Uur as theyca mecloserto
therailro adth ey slo we d dow n, travelingonlyabout
twelvemiles aday. T hi s was to giveth e catt le
plent yofrime ro graze,sothattheywouldbe as
heav yas poss iblewhen rheywert'so ld.
N ewtowns g rewup wherecattletrailsmer the
ra il ro ad s. T hefirstofthese"canlctowns"was
Abilene, in Kan sas.In 1867.cowboysdrove36,00 0
cattleth erealongtheChisholmTrailfromT exas. As
therailro admovedwest,othercattle towns were
built.ThebestknownwasDodgeCity. w hichTI,~.(~ldCll;pil:r
<CTn"""yolf
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