How long did it take a cattle drive to go from Texas to the cowtowns?
Jennifer Miller
Davenport, Florida
The “Long Drive,” which initially went up to Abilene, Kansas, was about 800 miles and could take as long as two months. It was about the same time and distance from the Nueces River, down near San Antonio, Texas, to Sedalia, Missouri. Trail drovers didn’t push the cows hard, as they’d lose too much weight.
By 1871, railroads had pushed farther west across Kansas, and the arrival o
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