Abilene, Wichita, Dodge City and Ogallala all signified the end of the trail for the great cattle drives, I’m Jeff Keane, after the break we’ll look at how Hollywood’s depiction of cattle drives differed from the real deal. With the exception of Lonesome Dove it is doubtful that Hollywood ever got it right when they filmed a cattle drive, here is Susan Allen’s take.  In my opinion I don’t think a director has ever  really captured the essence of individuals that would spend months in the elements to drive four thousand  head of longhorns to market for twenty to forty dollars  a month. The trail boss always plays the lead character  but the cook should get best supporting role as they were revered by drovers. Oh and the boss never rode one “favorite” horse, (usually black )… because the remuda or herd of horses consisted of six to ten horses per man with the best reserved for night herding.  A typical drive employed ten to fifteen drovers who again, unlike the movies, were usually armed with a pair of cap and ball revolvers not colt pistols or Winchester rifles. It wasn’t well into the 1870’s that metallic cartridges   made their way west into a cowboys scabbard. By 1885 the era of great cattle drives was over as the thousands of cattle and horses that   had tread those great  trails began to disperse out on a range that then  made up a third of our nations land. Texas tick fever made the longhorn unwelcome   and barbed wire turned some cowboy  line riders into “plier men”  who tended miles of fence, unlike the typical cowboy portrayed in film.   I’m Jeff Keane.