Joseph Chance, a local historian and museum volunteer, returns for another Sunday Speaker Series presentation

Sunday Speaker Series: The Goodnight-Loving Trail Cattle herding from Texas to Colorado

Texas Border Business

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EDINBURG, Texas — The Chisholm Trail is one of the most famous cattle herding trails in the United States. Many claim the trail start and end points were from Donna, Texas, to the state of Kansas. It was a long drive, but there was another trail that off-shoots from Texas: The Goodnight-Loving Trail. Although the trail did not directly come to the Rio Grande Valley, one could assume some cattle from the area were sent through the trail from San Antonio. Joseph Chance, a local historian, will provide insight about this trail during his Sunday Speaker Series presentation, “The Goodnight-Loving Trail,” on Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. at the Museum of South Texas History.

“The Goodnight – Loving Trail ran from Young County, Texas, southwest to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, up the Pecos to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and on north to Colorado,” according to the Texas State Historical Association website. However, it could be speculated that some herders from the Chisholm Trail took a turn and joined the Goodnight-Loving Trail to travel northeast into Colorado or Wyoming.  

Joseph E. Chance, Ph.D., is the author of several published books on history, newspaper columns, and essays. A fifth-generation Texan, Chance was raised in Austin before making the RGV his home. Now a resident of Edinburg, Chance is married with three daughters.

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