How Cowboys in the Old American West Survived a 2-Month Cattle Drive | History for Sleep

Tonight we ride the whole cattle trail north out of Texas with a young cowboy, in the spring of eighteen seventy-one, from the brush country near San Antonio, across the Red River and Indian Territory, to the railhead at Abilene, Kansas. Will rides with a crew of about twelve and two and a half thousand longhorns. Not like the pictures: ten or twelve miles a day, slow on purpose so the cattle put on weight; corn bread, bacon and coffee with no sugar and no cream; thirty dollars a month, paid only when the herd is sold; and half the nights spent riding slowly round the sleeping herd, singing so the cattle can hear a voice. The first hard days in the dust of the drag, the cook and his chuck box, the river crossing at Red River Station, the open grass of Indian Territory, thunder far off in the west, the Canadian and the Cimarron, and at last the pens and the railroad at Abilene. No ads in the first 30 minutes. After that, ads only fall between chapters. The narration slows down as the journey ends, and the last half hour is the quietest. Chapters 00:00 Not Like the Pictures 17:19 The First Hard Days 33:17 Ike and the Chuck Box 49:06 Ten Miles a Day 1:05:12 Red River Station 1:21:18 Ten Cents a Head 1:36:57 Night Guard 1:52:54 Thunder in the West 2:08:32 The Canadian and the Cimarron 2:25:06 Abilene 2:41:50 Thirty Dollars a Month 2:58:37 The Empty Bed Ground 3:15:34 The Last Song Sources Joseph G. McCoy, Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest (Kansas City, 1874) Andy Adams, The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days (1903) Handbook of Texas Online, "Chisholm Trail" (Texas State Historical Association) Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia, "Chisholm Trail" Will and his outfit are imagined; the trail, the herd, the wages, the food and the work are drawn from the sources above. Images are AI-generated. The narration is produced with AI assistance. Listening from somewhere tonight? Leave your town and the time in the comments. #HistoryForSleep #SleepDocumentary #WildWest #Cowboys #OrdinaryLives