Many times in thinking of the occupations of our ancestors, we forget the cattle industry. According to Thomas D. Clark in Agrarian Kentucky (1977) "Wherever two blades of grass grow in Kentucky, there are cattle." It is stated that domestic animals were in Harrodsburg and Boonesboro by at least the mid 1770's. The land was a fertile land for crops for the animals - forests, canebrakes, tall grasses and all were excellent grazing lands. There was an abundance of clear, fresh water and a lot of wide-open spaces. As noted in the old County Order Books, the pioneers came in before the Justices of the Peace and registered their "brands". This was done primarily as the men let the cattle roam freely and sometimes one or more would wander too far. If someone found the livestock and couldn't identify it, he would bring it to the courthouse and the clerk would look through the books to see who had that brand. The cow or pig would be put in a pen outside the courthouse and ads posted. I assume, but am not sure, that the owner would have to pay a fine to collect his livestock. As soon as the Indian threats started dying down in Kentucky in the 1780's, the settlers started rolling in and with them their cattle. Purebred cattle were raised here by Matthew Patton and his sons who had come from Virginia. He owned some famous bulls named Mars, Pluto and Venus which provided the bloodline for the shorthorn cattle industry in Kentucky. Then began the surge to improve the bloodlines, introduce new stock and creating more pastureland. Thanks to the Wilderness Road and the Cumberland Gap, Kentucky had access to many markets including Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, VA, Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA and Boston, Massachusetts. Cattle drovers became a new occupation for Kentucky, those responsible for driving the herds to market. Cattle were bought and sold along the way and the drovers purchased corn for their feeding. Cattle drives such as these were frequent by 1800. The cattle drive, or more accurately, the trail drive, was an exciting event and a dangerous one at that. The first livestock that was driven overland to the east were hogs, beginning before 1800. Then came cattle, horses and mules. The noisiest was likely the turkey dries! The livestock ate along the way from the pasture land, acorns and beech nuts (Paul C. Henlein, Cattle Kingdom in the Ohio Valley, 1783-1860, Lexington, KY, 1959). According to records, over 10,000 head of cattle, hogs and sheep were driven over the trail between 1815-1820. The starting point for many of the drives was at Winchester or Mt. Sterling where it progressed through the Cumberland Gap or Pound Gap. Young men were hired along the way to assist and drovers took their own sons with them. Mr. Henlein noted that the records from this time were not preserved and leaves a large gap in our colorful history The southern markets for Kentucky cattle opened up after 1814 when the Creek Indians were defeated. This allowed drives to Mississippi and Alabama. Roads were being built at a hurried pace which allowed herding them to Louisville, Nashville and New Orleans. Later Huntsville, AL was opened up and Mobile, AL. When the steamboat industry began to flourish, many cattle owners were able to ship the cattle on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to even larger markets. The financial crisis of 1819, recently discussed, created another shift in Kentucky economy. Farmers leaned towards cattle instead of cotton and other crops whose markets had been impacted. The original Patton cattle held prominence for many years and in 1817, Lewis Sanders entered the market. He lived in Fayette County and he shipped Bakewell longhorns, Holderness, Durham reds, and Westmorelands into the central part of the state. All of these were English breeds. In addition to the central part of Kentucky, the Applachian region was involved in cattle breeding. Breathitt, Floyd, Perry, Harland and Pike Counties out-did Bourbon, Fayette and Woodford Counties. There was also cattle raising found in the Pennyroyal section of the state. By the late 1850's, the railroad was coming into it's own, 78 miles crossed Kentucky then. The Lexington and Southern, Louisville & Nashville and the Mobile and Ohio Railroads all eagerly sought the cattle shipping trade and soon Louisville and Cincinnati were cattle hubs. The Civil War almost destroyed the cattle market, however. The armies of both sides slaughtered cattle for food; the railroad tracks were blown up, dams were blown up or blocked to keep the steamships from transporting anything (and many taken over by the armies), fences and barns were destroyed and burned. The Kentucky cattle industry was also hurt deeply by competition from ranchers west of the Mississippi and a bankruptcy of many southern customers. And, to further destroy the market, large droves of Texas cattle passed through Kentucky on their way to Chicago markets. They ate from the pastures and left behind disease, ticks, and parasites which our cattle were not immune too. Shortly many of the Kentucky cattle began dying out. Other breeds were being introduced and western breeders preferred Herefords; limiting Kentucky's shorthorn market. By the end of the 1800's, the cattle drive was almost a thing of the past with the railroad taking over the long and arduous chore. The Kentucky State Legislature finally came to the aid of its cattle farmers and established the Kentucky Bureau of Agriculture, Horticulture and Statistics. Since then, the Kentucky cattle producers have seen many ups and down. In 1940, according to Clark, 1.25 million head were raised and 3.75 million in 1975. Sources: Kentucky Department of Agriculture publications, Thomas D. Clark. (c) Copyright 26 Dec 2002, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ GORIN worldconnect website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~sgorin SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html