Following the Civil War, demand for beef in the eastern half of the United States exploded. With local cattle supplies waning due to the war effort, one state would soon put beef on the nation’s table: Texas. Meanwhile, Jesse Chisholm, a fur trader and merchant of Scottish and Cherokee descent, surveyed a wagon path from Kansas through Indian Territory. This trail, eventually known as the Chisholm Trail, became the primary route for cowboys and longhorns from Texas to the Kansas railheads.