Joe Herring Jr.: Charles Schreiner, of Kerrville, had an interesting role in the trail drives of the 1870s -1880s

A photo titled "Schreiner and Lytle Herd, 1880,"

posted on the blog of my friend Deborah Gaudier.

The photo was taken near Doan's Store and crossing.

In 1884, Ike T. Pryor, a successful transportation agent, calculated the costs of moving 3,000 head of cattle north. A 3,000-head herd could be moved inexpensively: “The salaries of [eleven drovers] including the boss, were $30 each for the ten men, including the cook, and $100 a month for the boss. This gave an outlay of $400 a month; and estimating $100 for provisions, there was an expense of $500 per month to move a herd of 3,000 cattle 450 to 500 miles.” In less than two months, a 3000-head herd could be moved from south Texas to the Kansas railheads for a cost of about $1,000. At $1 to $1.50 per head, could clear around $2,000 — less the cattle lost along the way, which was rarely above 3%, and paid for at the lower Texas market prices.

Trailing cattle required capital, however, and the larger trailing organizations required significant capital. One such company came to be called the Lytle, McDaniel, Schreiner and Light Cattle Company.

The partners each had important roles. Drives were staged at Lytle and McDaniel’s headquarters in Lytle, Texas, and also at Schreiner’s store in Kerrville. Because of their experience in the cattle industry, Lytle and Light selected the bosses and hired the hands for the drives. Once the drives started, Lytle would travel to the railheads, to receive the cattle and negotiate their sale. McDaniel, Light, and Schreiner usually stayed in Texas, managing the operation and finding additional cattle to trail.

At its peak, the partnership trailed as many as 91,000 head in a single season. In one of its larger contracts, it drove 25,000 head for the Franklyn Land and Cattle Company.

John Thomas Lytle, born in 1844 in Pennsylvania, migrated to Texas with his parents and siblings in 1860, stopping first at an uncle’s ranch in Atascosa county, before moving on to San Antonio. Young Lytle, only 16, found work at the Bexar County clerk’s office, but resigned a year later because of poor health.

Lytle’s uncle, the rancher in Atascosa county, offered Lytle a job on the ranch for $15 per month. The long hours of hard work actually helped Lytle’s health improve.

After the war, he returned to work on his uncle’s ranch. By 1867, the demand for Texas cattle offered cattlemen extraordinary profits for livestock driven to the railhead markets. Texas Longhorns sold for $18 to $50 each there.

Seeing an opportunity, Lytle quit his job at his uncle’s ranch, borrowed money and leased a pasture near Castroville, Texas. He stocked this with 1,500 Longhorns, and was in the ranching business.

In 1871, he formed a partnership with Thomas M. McDaniel. Little is known about McDaniel’s background or business experience. Together they trailed their own herds and began contracting to take other ranchers’ herds to market or northern ranges, furnishing drovers and equipment. This soon became an important part of their business partnership. By 1874. the business had grown so rapidly additional capital was needed, and they sold a half-interest in the company to Charles Schreiner and John W. Light.

Light was born in 1844 in New York. When he was 17, he enlisted in the Sixth New York Heavy Artillery, serving in the Union Army. After the war, he moved first to Kansas, but eventually moved on to Texas in 1872, arriving in Mason County, and working as a laborer for Ben Gooch, who raised stock there. The next year, he bought out his employer, signing a promissory note for $18,000. Then, in 1874, with 2,500 head of his own livestock, he contracted to take an additional 2,500 head to Ogallala, Nebraska, where he sold them at a nice profit. It was this profit he invested in the newly-formed Lytle, McDaniel, Schreiner and Light Cattle Company.

Although the total number of cattle handled by Lytle, McDaniel, Schreiner and Light is not known, estimates suggest that between 1871 and 1887 they were responsible for getting no fewer than 600,000 head to market and to northern pastures. Starting in 1876, the firm moved 6,000 head. This number grew until 1884, when they handled 91,000 head. The year following, the number fell by more than half, and by 1887, it was down to 12,000 head.

The firm faced three major problems in the late 1880s: Texas fever affecting the cattle, a decline in demand for Texas Longhorns, and the increased use of rails to transport livestock to market.

Texas fever was caused by the bite of a tick found in southwest Texas. Though the Texas cattle were immune to the fever, when transported north, the tick’s bite proved deadly to other herds. The cattle would sicken and die. Consequently, by 1885, authorities legislated quarantines against cattle from Texas.

Second, and just as difficult, the demand for Texas Longhorns fell. The beef was never of the highest quality; it was considered stringy and tough. Northern short-horned cattle were preferred, and their share of the market increased.

Lastly, more cattle were being shipped by rail instead of being driven to market. As the rails reached more of Texas, including Kerrville by 1887, the speed of transportation, despite higher costs per head, meant fewer cattle were trailed by the firm. By 1887, the firm’s volume was 12,000 head — a number too low to be profitable.

The partnership dissolved in 1887, though the way in which it ended is unusual. Lytle, McDaniel, and Light gave their shares to Schreiner with the understanding Schreiner would assume the indebtedness of the partnership. This arrangement would seem to favor all parties except Schreiner. What benefit could he have in acquiring sole ownership in a withering business?

That's a question for next week.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is working on a biography of Captain Charles Schreiner. This post contains research from that book.

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