<P> The typical drive comprised 1,500--2,500 head of cattle . The typical outfit consisted of a boss, (perhaps the owner), from ten to fifteen hands, each of whom had a string of from five to ten horses; a horse wrangler who handled the horses; and a cook, who drove the chuck wagon . The wagon carried the bedrolls; tents were considered excess luxury . The men drove and grazed the cattle most of the day, herding them by relays at night . Ten or twelve miles was considered a good day's drive, as the cattle had to thrive on the route . They ate grass; the men had bread, meat, beans with bacon, and coffee . Wages were about $40 a month, paid when the herd were sold . </P> <P> The Chisholm Trail decreased in importance after 1871 when, as a result of the westward advance of settlement, Abilene lost its preeminence as a shipping point for Texas cattle . Dodge City, Kansas became the chief shipping point for another trail farther west, crossing the Red River at Red River Station, Texas . The extension of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Caldwell, Kansas, in 1880, however, again made the Chisholm Trail a most important route for driving Texas cattle to the North, and it retained this position until the building of additional trunk lines of railway south into Texas caused rail shipments to take the place of the former trail driving of Texas cattle north to market . </P> <P> Cattle towns flourished between 1866 and 1890 as railroads reached towns suitable for gathering and shipping cattle . The first was Abilene, Kansas . Other towns in Kansas, including Wichita and Dodge City, succeeded Abilene or shared its patronage by riders fresh off the long trail . In the 1880s Dodge City boasted of being the "cowboy capital of the world ." Communities in other states, including Ogallala, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Miles City, Montana; and Medora, North Dakota, served the trade as well . Amarillo, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls, all in Texas; Prescott, Arizona, Greeley, Colorado, and Las Vegas, New Mexico were regionally important . </P> <P> The most famous cattle towns like Abilene were railheads, where the herds were shipped to the Chicago stockyards . Many smaller towns along the way supported open range lands . Many of the cow towns were enlivened by buffalo hunters, railroad construction gangs, and freighting outfits during their heyday . Cattle owners made these towns headquarters for buying and selling . </P>

Why did cattle ranchers decide to use long drives to herd cattle to railroads