Charles Goodnight, Rancher and Trailblazer
Born in Illinois, Charles Goodnight (1836-1929) was brought to Milam County, Texas, as a child. He grew up on the frontier, becoming a ranger and Indian scout. During the Civil War, he served as a scout and guide in a frontier regiment. In 1865 Goodnight and his partner, Oliver Loving, decided to sell their cattle in New Mexico rather than on the Texas market, which was depressed following the war. The trail they blazed from Fort Belknap, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, became one of the most widely used cattle trails in the West, famed as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Goodnight later extended the trail to Grenada, Colorado; it became the Goodnight Trail. In 1877, he and John Adair established the JA Ranch, also known as the Goodnight Ranch, in the Panhandle. In time, they ran 100,000 cattle on a million acres. Among Goodnight’s accomplishments as a rancher and founder of the Panhandle Stockmen’s Association was the introduction of Hereford bulls and the development of “cattalo” — a cross between the buffalo and Polled Angus cattle.
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