Goodnight–Loving Trail

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 Llano Estacado (Staked Plains) to Horsehead Crossing, north along the Pecos River and across Pope's Crossing, into New Mexico to Fort Sumner.

[1] In June 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving decided to partner to drive cattle to growing western markets.

They hoped that demand for beef from settlers, soldiers stationed at military outposts across New Mexico, and Navajos recently placed on reservations near Fort Sumner would make the drive profitable.

[3] During the Drive of 1867, at Horsehead Crossing, during a heavy storm, the herd was attacked by a party of Comanches, leaving it divided and scattered.

[5] Iliff had become established as a leading commercial cattle rancher in his holdings along the Platte River, and sold beef to mining camps, railroad workers, and government agents working on Indian reservations.