DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell this one just as the official marker has it — so hold on, because this story covers a lot of ground, in more ways than one. We're talking about a man named Joseph G. McCoy, born in 1837, died in 1915, and in between those two years he did more for the Texas cattle business than just about anybody who never actually called Texas home.
He was a livestock broker out of Illinois — don't hold that against him — and what he saw, when the rest of the country was still sorting itself out after the Civil War years of 1861 to 1865, was an opportunity. Texas had a problem. The war had wrecked the economy something fierce, but the cattle — oh, the cattle had done just fine.
Longhorns had multiplied all through the wartime years, and now Texas had more beef on the hoof than she knew what to do with. The trouble was, there was no market. A Texas longhorn was worth maybe five dollars standing in a pasture in Texas, but get that same animal up north and you were looking at twenty-five, thirty dollars — sometimes more.
The math was plain enough. The distance between those two numbers was the problem. And the only way to close it was to drive those cattle across the better part of a continent.
Now, someone had to make that possible on the receiving end, and that someone was Joseph G. McCoy. He went to work securing cattle cars and building loading pens at the railroad in Abilene, Kansas.
Right there, he founded what the marker calls the first adequate market for Texans in the cattle trade. And he didn't stop there. He had part of the Chisholm Trail itself surveyed and marked, to help guide the cattlemen along the way.
That trail had been started by an Indian scout and trader named Jesse Chisholm — ran up through Oklahoma and on into Kansas — and McCoy's operation sat near the upper end of it. Now, the Chisholm Trail was the best known of several cattle trails coming out of Texas, and across all of them, during the years 1866 to 1884, somewhere in the neighborhood of ten million beeves were driven out of this state. Ten million.
Let that number settle over you like a West Texas sunset. But here's where the story swings back to right where you're driving. In December of 1872, the M.
K. T. Railroad reached Denison — right here in Grayson County — and that changed things.
Texas finally had her own north-bound cattle shipping outlet. McCoy recognized it immediately. He moved here in 1873, and on this very site he helped establish the Atlantic and Texas Refrigerating Company, built to benefit ranchers by shipping dressed beef.
He brought the market to Texas. The marker puts it about as plainly as it can be put — the state of Texas owes much to the initiative, vision, courage, and leadership of Joseph G. McCoy.
An Illinois man who never stopped working on Texas's behalf. Sometimes the best friends a place has are the ones who saw its worth from the outside, and then bet everything on it.
What the marker says
(1837-1915) Livestock broker from Illinois, whose pioneering in cattle markets helped Texas rebuild the economy which had been wrecked in 1861-1865 by Civil War. Cattle had increased greatly in wartime. Texas had no market; long drives were necessary, so that until Texas could get better railroads her $5 longhorns could be sold in the north at $25 to $30 or more. McCoy founded first adequate market for Texans, by securing cattle cars and building loading pens at the railroad in Abilene, Kans. This was near upper end of trail started by Indian scout and trader Jesse Chisholm, and used by Texans on drives through Oklahoma to Kansas. He had part of Chisholm Trail surveyed and marked to aid the cattlemen. This was the best known of several cattle trails from Texas over which some 10,000,000 beeves were driven from the state during the years 1866-1884. The M. K. T. Railroad reached Denison in Dec., 1872, giving Texas its own north-bound cattle shipping outlet. McCoy moved here 1873 and helped establish on this site the Atlantic & Texas Refrigerating Co., to benefit ranchers by shipping dressed beef. The state of Texas owes much to the initiative, vision, courage and leadership of Joseph G. McCoy.