Last Great Panhandle Cattle Drive to Montana (White Deer)

Each Spring and Summer after 1880, many Texas herds went up the trail to Northern states for fattening. For the cowboys, trail drives meant hard work. They had to turn stampedes, ford rivers and quicksand streams, and fight Indians and cattle thieves. They endured hunger, thirst, and other physical hardships. The Last Great Texas Panhandle Drive was organized here at N Bar N (N-N) Headquarters. Ranch manager was J.L. Harrison; trail boss T.L. (Tom) Coffee. 100 cowboys drove 10 herds, each with 2500 cattle, or a total of 25,000 beeves, to Montana from April to September 1892. The cattle belonged to Niedringhaus Brothers, German tinsmiths of St. Louis, who put into ranching a fortune made in enamel granite household wares. From 1882 to1886, N Bar N leased range in Carson and neighboring counties from the Francklyn Land & Cattle Company, a British syndicate backed by Cunard Steamship Line. Afterward this range belonged to White Deer Land Company. The N Bar N outfit left here because White Deer Land Company wanted the range cleared of large herds. By 1907 the 650,000 acres of its land was offered for sale to small ranchers and farmers. It was fenced and the steam plow introduced to turn the rich, grassy sod.

Last Great Panhandle Cattle Drive to Montana is a historical marker in White Deer, Carson County, dedicated in 1965. It is one of 42 historical markers documented in Carson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 49 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 35.4453, -101.1516 near White Deer. The nearest cataloged historic site is White Deer (historical marker), about 1.4 miles away. Others within a short drive include Jackson General Store, Hotel at White Deer, and First Baptist Church of White Deer.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5065003044. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.