“The Real McCoy’’ moved the Cattle to the East

There once was a man named Joe McCoy who played a major role in the cattle ranching business that started to spread from Texas across the Midwest as far north as Chicago. By luring livestock to Chicago, that put his business much closer to the northeast and the profitable New York market. He had to battle many of the homesteaders who lived in the Kansas area and objected to the cattle ranchers moving their cattle across state lines since it was believed that they carried a tick that killed many of the other animals in the area. Cattle ranchers didn’t like taking their cattle through Kansas because of the hostile reactions they received and the fierce opposition to their presence.

McCoy was a smart man who knew that the new railroads that were sprouting up along the Midwest could be beneficial to moving cattle from the Midwest to the northeast. The Kansas/Pacific Railroad ran right past a midwestern frontier village, so McCoy built a hotel, stockyard, office, and a bank in the village and basically built the town of Abilene in Texas, one of the first real cow towns. The cattle were to be driven from the Midwest to Abilene, then transported to New York by train. It seemed like an easy idea at the time because Abilene was established as a town at the end of the Civil War as a site that would transport supplies to Confederate troops. The trail to the East was west of Kansas, so the transporters could use it without hostility from the Kansas homesteaders who were afraid of the tick virus,

After the Civil War was ended, McCoy spent an unheard-of $5,000 on advertising and riders. He promised high prices for cattle sold in Abilene and he was able to keep his word. He once sold 6,000 cows for $5,400 and sold them in Abilene for almost $17,000. Between 1867 and 1881, McCoy spent more than 2 million cattle from Abilene to Chicago where they were later moved to the northeast.

His reputation for reliability is the reason for the expression, “The Real McCoy.’’  The cattle trade was at its peak from 1867 until the mid 1880s and the increased number of railroad lines allowed the country to expand thanks to the transfer of cattle. It also led to the removal of Native Americans from the plains to reservations, which allowed for more room for ranching.

In the late 1800s, the cattle industry virtually collapsed as the farmers began to experiment with different breeds of cattle that could not live on the open range. There was less grass available for grazing and in 1883, there was a drought that ruined the little remaining grass that was still in the heartland. 

Jeff Berlinicke