Unit 3 — Part B. Harvey County: Home of Trails

Over many generations, Harvey County has been heavily traveled since the area is a major crossroads of trails. These trails were created and/or used by wild animals, Native Americans, Spanish explorers, military units, gold prospectors, cowboys, pioneers, immigrants, travelers and local residents.

The stories of the trails illustrate “No man is an island entire of itself.” No one is truly self-sufficient. No one functions in isolation. People rely on and/or are impacted by others. Their actions produce threads connecting them to others. The threads can be very obvious or barely discernible. The challenge is to identify the threads, determine who was impacted, name what elements came into play and then recognize the short-term and long-term ripple effects.

The truth in “No one functions in isolation” is quite evident in the cattle trade business of the last half of the 1800s. That being the case, Part B of Unit 3 focuses on how and why various cattle trails were created; and, specifically, the role of those which traversed Harvey County. Part B of Unit 3 looks at the interplay between trails and communities. It also examines myth vs. reality.

Click the first illustration to start the pictorial narrative of cattle trails within Harvey County.