On this day in 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving headed north with 2,000 head of Texas cattle, opening a new era in the American West.
George Goodnight (above left) was a prominent rancher in the Texas panhandle, a former Texas Ranger and Confederate soldier. Following the war, he joined fellow Texans rounding up hundred of feral Texas Longhorns that had roamed unmolested during the Civil War.
As early as 1860, Loving (above right) had driven 1,500 cattle to Denver, selling them for $36 a head in gold, more than $700 apiece in today’s money. His return trip to Texas was delayed by the start of the Civil War when Union officials refused to let Loving leave until legendary frontiersman Kit Carson interceded on his behalf.
Finally back in Texas, Loving was quickly commissioned to supply cattle to Confederate troops along the Mississippi River.
The U.S. government’s relocation of thousands of Native Americans to Fort Sumner, Arizona’s Bosque Redondo, prompted Loving to blaze a new trail to the Southwest. Combining his herd with that of friend and fellow rancher Goodnight, the pair initially followed the well worn Butterfield Overland Mail route. Operated as a stage line and U.S. postal service from 1857 to 1861, it carried both mail and passengers between Memphis and St. Louis to San Francisco.
The pair then followed the Pecos River Valley, crossing the river periodically to graze and water the cattle. 
At Fort Sumner, (above) the U.S. Army agreed to pay 8 cents a pound for the steers but refused to buy 800 stocker cattle (lightweight calves). Goodnight returned to Texas with $12,500 of the Army’s money and Loving continued to Denver with the remainder of the herd.
While they didn’t invent the cattle drive, the iconic Goodnight-Loving Trail played a significant role in the cattle culture of Texas.
Texas ranchers were driving Longhorns to New Orleans on the “Beef Trail” as early as 1836. During the 1840s popular routes like the Shawnee led to Missouri railheads in Sedalia, Springfield and St. Louis. Drovers were dealt a blow in 1853, however, when Missouri farmers formed vigilante groups to bar Texas cattle, concerned the herds would spread the tick borne Texas Fever. While Longhorns were immune after decades of exposure to the disease, the fever was nearly always fatal to “nieve” cattle in other regions.
For nearly five decades the drives were a fixture of the American West, responsible for much of the America’s fascination with the cowboy culture.
Expansion of railroads eventually ended the era of the long drives but as late as 1940 Western and Midwestern ranchers continued to deliver their cattle to market in the time-honored tradition What’s left today are generally tourist attractions or part of traditional celebrations.
George Goodnight continued in the cattle business until 1919 when he lost his life savings with the nationalization of a Mexican silver mine. He lived another 10 years, marrying a 26-year-old Corrine Goodnight who shared the same surname but was not related.Oliver Loving was not so lucky. 
Injured in a Comanche attack, he died of gangrene at Fort Sumner, September 25, 1867. He was buried in Texas by his friend George Goodnight, their story the inspiration for the Pulitzer Prize winning novel “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry (right) and the popular television mini-series of the same name.
The Charles Goodnight Historical center, 4901 County Road 25, Goodnight, Texas, is the cattleman’s restored 1880s-era Victorian home. The J. Evetts Haley Visitor and Education Center features exhibits on the Goodnights as 
well as information on the early settlement of the region. Open March through November, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 5; December through February, Thursday through Saturday, 10 to 5. Admission is $10 for adults and children 12 and under, $5. For more information go to texasplainstrails.com or call (806) 226-2187. The site is part of the Texas Plains Trail Region, Lubbock Texas, (806) 747-1997.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain