In June 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving decided to make a partnership to drive cattle to growing western markets. They hoped that demand for beef from settlers, from soldiers stationed at military outposts across New Mexico, and from Navajos recently placed upon reservations near Fort Sumner, would make the drive profitable. With eighteen cowpunchers, they brought 2,000 head of cattle to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Over eight thousand Navajo had been interned at the Bosque Redondo reservation under the control of the fort, but due to the poor conditions on the reservation for agriculture and inadequate planning by the US authorities for provisions, there was an urgent demand for new food supplies. Goodnight and Loving received eight cents a pound for the steers in the herd, although they were unable to interest the government agent in 800 stocker cattle. Goodnight returned to Texas with approximately $12,000 in gold to buy more cattle. Loving continued north towards the railhead in Denver, Colorado with the remaining cows and calves. He was stopped by a tollgate chain in the Raton Pass, operated byRichens Lacey Wootton. Loving paid Wootton 10 cents per head of cattle. In Denver, Loving sold the herd to John Wesley Iliff.
Later developments
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. Loving and "One Arm Bill" Wilson rode ahead towards Fort Sumner to advise them of the delay. They were ambushed by Comanches, and while both managed to escape, Loving died later refusing to have an amputation. Goodnight drove herds along the route over Raton Pass again in 1868, paying the toll. In February 1868, he began to drive slaughter herds to Cheyenne, Wyoming to be butchered and both marketed locally and shipped by railroad to markets in Chicago. In 1868 he also scouted a new route via the Trincheras Pass, in order to sell cattle to John W Iliff in Cheyenne. 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. Over the next decade, cattle ranches stocked with Texas Longhorn brought up along the trail were established across Wyoming. Several Texas companies relocated or started subsidiaries in Wyoming and Montana. Cheyenne became a hub for the local cattle business, with its Union Pacific railroad connection.
Centennial cattle are brought to Colorado by way of the Goodnight-Loving trail, which was renamed the Skimmerhorn Trail in the novel.
Centennial follows the plot of the novel.
Mutual Radio Theater 1980 Episode 'Goodnight Loving Trail' tells the story of the initial attempt by Goodnight & Loving to form the trail.
The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving, a novel by author Leslie Thomas in which the main protagonist George Goodnight is inspired by the adventures of his namesake Charles Goodnight and partner Oliver Loving.
