Joseph G. McCoy, Cattleman, Congressman from Oklahoma Territory

Joseph G. McCoy
Cattleman, Congressman from Oklahoma Territory

Joseph G. McCoy was born at Springfield, Illinois, December 20, 1837. Of his early life but little is known, He became a cattle feeder and, at the end of the Civil War, when beef cattle were scarce and high in price, he became interested in trying to transport range cattle from the ranges of Western Texas to the corn belt and to the markets of Chicago and other western cities. He dreamed the dream of the cattle trail and made it come true, though he did not profit greatly from the experiment himself. He continued to be actively interested in the live stock business as long as he lived. When Oklahoma was opened to settlement, he located at El Reno and, in 1890, was nominated as a candidate for delegate to Congress by the first territorial convention of the Democratic party. He died at Kansas City, October 19, 1915.

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Ann Maloney, Bartlesville, OK.
Copyright © 1998 Ann Maloney all rights reserved.