Inevitably the men of the lower range would seek to reach the railroads with what they had to sell--their greatest natural product, cattle on the hoof.

This was the primary cause of the great northbound drives already mentioned, the greatest pastoral phenomena in the story of the world.
The southern herds at that time had no market at their doors.

They had to go to the market, and they had to go on foot.

That meant that they must be driven northward by cattle handlers who had passed their days in the wild life of the lower range.

These cowmen of course took their character and their customs northward with them, and so they were discovered by those enthusiastic observers, newly arrived by rail, whom the cowmen were wont to call "pilgrims." Now the trail of the great cattle drives--the Long Trail-was a thing of tremendous importance of itself and it is still full of interest.