Goodnight-Loving Trail

The Goodnight–Loving Trail was a trail used in the cattle drives of the late 1860s for the large-scale movement of Texas Longhorns. It is named after cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving.

The Goodnight Loving Trail began at Fort Belknap (Texas), along part of the former route of the Butterfield Overland Mail, traveling through central Texas across the Staked Plains to Horsehead Crossing, north along the Pecos River and across Pope's Crossing, into New Mexico to Fort Sumner. The trail then continued north into Colorado up to Denver and was extended on into Wyoming.

In June 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving decided to make a partnership to drive cattle to growing western markets. They hoped that demand for beef from settlers, from soldiers stationed at military outposts across New Mexico, and from Navajos recently placed upon reservations near Fort Sumner, would make the drive profitable. With eighteen cowpunchers, they brought 2,000 head of cattle to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Over eight thousand Navajo had been interned at the Bosque Redondo reservation under the control of the fort, but due to the poor conditions on the reservation for agriculture and inadequate planning by the US authorities for provisions, there was an urgent demand for new food supplies. Goodnight and Loving received eight cents a pound for the steers in the herd, although they were unable to interest the government agent in 800 stocker cattle. Goodnight returned to Texas with approximately $12,000 in gold to buy more cattle.

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