Cattle drives were a major economic activity during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas and Nebraska to be shipped to eastern stockyards. When big Texas ranchers took note of the good grazing in Dakota Territory, cattle began arriving in 1876.
On this date in 1915, an article in the Dickinson Press detailed how a large cattle drive arrived in Dakota Territory in 1884. The cattle were owned by the Long X Ranch in Texas. The herd left Texas in early spring and reached McKenzie County in September.
This was before the days of barbed wire. Enormous herds, owned mostly by Texas ranchers, grazed loose on the prairie. That caused problems for small local ranchers, whose cattle often mixed with the new arrivals. The Long X made efforts to avoid hard feelings. They even provided saddle horses to nearby ranchers to help them keep a closer eye on their own stock. But it was a thankless task.
The newspaper described the challenge of rounding up loose cattle as “like keeping away the mosquitos in the springtime, or the flies in midsummer.”
The Long X employed two teams of about twenty-five cowboys each. Most came up from Texas with the herd. They branded calves in the spring and rounded up cattle in the fall, driving the herd to the Eland Stockyards, four miles west of Dickinson. There, the cattle were loaded into stock cars and shipped east.
The work of the cowboys was far from glamorous. They worked seven days a week in all weather, and spent nearly every waking hour in the saddle. They also took turns standing night guard. The newspaper noted that “virtually every cowboy is a physical wreck by the age of thirty-five.”
A new Long X herd arrived each year for the next three years. But the harsh winters were discouraging. The winter of 1886 was especially brutal. Many ranchers, including Teddy Roosevelt, lost sixty to seventy percent of their herds. Cattle drives to Dakota Territory came to an end.
Movies and TV shows about cattle drives tend to focus on the journey from Texas to Kansas and Nebraska. But thanks to old newspapers, we know North Dakota played an important role in the cattle industry of the Old West.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Dickinson Press. “Early History of McKenzie County.” Dickinson ND. 9/4/1915. Page 1.
- Historical Marker Data Base. “The Long X Cattle Trail.” https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=88651Accessed 7/30/2025.
- ND Studies. “Ranches and Cattle Bonanzas.” https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr4/early-settlement-north-dakota/part-2-great-dakota-boom/section-4-ranches-and-cattle-bonanzasAccessed 7/30/2025.
- Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. “Timeline of Theodore Roosevelt’s Time in the Badlands.” https://www.trlibrary.com/tr/badlands-timelineAccessed 7/30/2025.
