Cattle drives involved cowboys on horseback moving herds of cattle long distances to market. Cattle drives were at one time a major economic activity in the American West, particularly between the years 1866-1895, when 10 million cattle were herded from Texas to railheads in Kansas for shipments to stockyards in Chicago and points east. Drives usually took place in Texas on the Goodnight-Loving Trail (1866), Potter-Bacon trail (1883), Western trail (1874), Chisholm Trail (1867) and Shawnee Trail (1840)s
During the 19th and early 20th century, cattle drives were a major form of economic activity in the United States. This was mainly the case in the American West. Cattle ranches were common in the West, and this was the region most cattle came from. However, this is not where the cattle was consumed. Cattle ranchers travelled long distances to more populated places, including Chicago and eastern cities. The main reason for this was that demand was higher in more populated places. Moreover, supply of cattle was low in these regions. This allowed the ranchers to get the most money possible for their cattle.
Economically, the population decrease brought by the Columbian Exchange indirectly caused a drastic labor shortage throughout the Americas, which eventually contributed to the establishment of African slavery on a vast scale in the Americas.
