Working Ranch Magazine Summer 2025

looking back Continued from page 98

Dunkirk, New York. At Bergin Hill, New Jersey, they unloaded and ferried them across the Hudson River into New York City where they were driven through the streets of Manhattan. They reached the Hundred Street Market on July 3, 1854. The idea of real longhorn cattle in downtown New York, trailed from Texas, crossing the Mississippi River, and fattened with corn in Illinois, cre ated a lot of interest in the city people. The partners sold them off in bunches

the old Shawnee Trail. Along this first stretch of the trail, the partners met Jesse Chisholm, the famous mountain man, Indian trader, and cattleman. The partners drove the herd past Fort Gibson, into Missouri, reaching the Mississippi River at St. Louis. Crossing the river by ferry, they win tered in Christian County, Illinois, near Moweaqua. Byers left the party for Green County, Illinois, returning to his family home. The drive was stopped to win

By the fall of 1852, the partners were looking for a way to increase their business. They decided to check out the rumors of the wild longhorn cattle in Texas, said to be dirt cheap and running free all over the state. After saving up enough cash in gold coins, they saddled up for the ride south to see for themselves. They carried their gold in buckskin money belts. “It was very disagreeable to carry this gold,” wrote Ponting, “but

of ten to twenty at a time. The New York Tribune reporter wrote about the new arrivals: “These cattle are generally 5, 6, and 7 years old, rather long-legged, though fine horned, with long tapered horns, and something of a wild look.” The Tribune also noted that “130 head of cattle from Texas were in the “New York Cattle Market” (sales arena), the previous day.” The reporter calculated that the partners had brought the cattle “about 1,500 miles on foot and 600 miles on the railroad. The drive came 500 miles through Indian country.” Tom’s plan for his future family worked

No matter how you slice it, Honey Grove, TX to New York was 1,500 miles and change.

well. Coming back to Illinois he mar ried Margaret Snyder, in Moweaqua, Illinois, in 1856, eventually having seven children, Tom Candy Ponting built his life in Illinois, and for the next 40 years became a major figure in the Chicago cattle industry, help ing to make it the world’s leading cat tle market. He was often referred to as the Prairie Cattle King, counting among his friends Abraham Lincoln, Potter Palmer, Montgomery Ward, Horace Greely, Buffalo Bill Cody, and P.T. Barnum. The leader of the longest cattle drive in history, died October 11, 1916, at age 92, in Decatur, Illinois, and is buried there.

there was no such thing as a draft nor any bank to get them on.” When they got to Texas, they stopped at a place called Honey Grove. “We bought a wagon and some canvas to cover it and to make a tent out of. We also bought a yoke of oxen to haul our wagon.” They hired James Byers to cook and drive the team, and bought 700 head of longhorns, paying $9 per head. 80 of them were “fine steers,” wrote Ponti, weighing about 1,200 pounds. The herd started moving north in April of 1853. Their plan was something that had never been done before; take a herd from Texas to New York City, a trip that would take over a year. The drive headed north, safely wad ing the Red River, and crossed through the notorious Indian territory along

ter over in Moweaqua, in Christian County on July 26, 1853. The cattle were fattened up through the winter with local corn. A longhorn bought for $9 in Texas, fattened on Illinois corn could sell for as much as $80 to $100 in New York. While setting up a winter feeding camp, Washington Malone got sick, and a local, James Jacobs, was hired to help care for the herd. “It took con siderable work to prepare a place to winter so many cattle; we had to buy a great deal of corn.” In the spring, they sold half the herd locally but included the best 150 fat steers in their half and headed east to Indiana. At the Wabash River, the herd crossed without any loss. At Muncie, they loaded the cattle on railroad cars, resting them at Cleveland, and

Bert Entwistle’s web page is www.blackmulepress.com.

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