Chisholm Trail 993678 221269195 2008-06-23T20:02:36Z SchfiftyThree 556700 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/24.237.71.51|24.237.71.51]] ([[User talk:24.237.71.51|talk]]) to last version by ClueBot The "Chisholm trail" was a dirt trail used in the latter 19th century to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas [[railhead]]s. The trail stretched from southern [[Texas]] across the [[Red River (Mississippi watershed)|Red River]], and on to the [[railhead]] of the [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] in [[Abilene, Kansas]], where the cattle would be sold and shipped eastward. The trail is named for [[Jesse Chisholm]] who had built several trading posts in what is now western [[Oklahoma]] before the [[American Civil War]]. He died in 1868, too soon to ever drive cattle on the trail. ==Business aspects== By 1853, Texas cattle were being driven into [[Missouri]], where local farmers began blocking herds and turning them back because the [[Texas longhorn (cattle)|Texas longhorns]] carried ticks that caused diseases in other types of cattle. Violence, vigilante groups, and cattle rustling caused further problems for the drivers. By [[1859]], the driving of cattle was outlawed in many Missouri jurisdictions. By the end of the Civil War, most cattle were being moved up the western branch of the [[Texas Road]], which joined the Chisholm Trail at [[Red River Station, Texas|Red River Station]] in [[Montague County, Texas]]. In [[1866]], cattle in Texas were worth only $4 per head, compared to over $40 per head in the [[Northern United States|North]] and [[Eastern United States|East]], because lack of market access during the American Civil War had led to increasing number of cattle in Texas. In [[1867]], [[Joseph McCoy|Joseph G. McCoy]] built stockyards in [[Abilene, Kansas]]. He encouraged Texas cattlemen to drive their herds to his stockyards. The stockyards shipped 35,000 head that year and became the largest stockyards west of [[Kansas City, Kansas]]. That same year, O. W. Wheeler answered McCoy's call, and he along with partners used the Chisholm Trail to bring a herd of 2,400 steers from Texas to Abilene. This herd was the first of an estimated 5,000,000 head of Texas cattle to reach Kansas over the Chisholm Trail.<ref>Worcester, Donald E. [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/ayc2.html "Chisholm Trail"], ''Handbook of Texas-Online'' (accessed August 16, 2006).</ref> The importance of cattle drives began to diminish in [[1887]] with the arrival of the [[Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad]] in Texas. ==Route== Today, most historians consider the Chisholm Trail to have started at the [[Rio Grande]] or at [[San Antonio, Texas]]. From [[1867]] to [[1871]], the trail ended in Abilene. Later, [[Newton, Kansas]], and [[Wichita, Kansas]], each served as the end of the trail. From [[1883]] to [[1887]], the end of the trail was [[Caldwell, Kansas]]. [[Ellsworth, Kansas]] is also considered a major influence of the trail. In Texas, there were hundreds of feeder trails heading north to one of the main cattle trails. In the early 1840s, most cattle were driven up the [[Shawnee Trail]]. The Chisholm Trail was previously used by [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] hunting and raiding parties; it went north from [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] through [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] and [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]]. The trail crossed into [[Indian Territory]] (present-day west-central [[Oklahoma]]) near Red River Station (in present-day [[Montague County, Texas]]) and entered Kansas near [[Caldwell, Kansas|Caldwell]]. Through Oklahoma, the Chisholm Trail generally followed the route of [[U.S. Route 81|US Highway 81]] through present-day towns of [[El Reno, Oklahoma|El Reno]] and [[Enid, Oklahoma|Enid]].[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v014/images/v014p108map.jpg] ==Challenges== {{seealso|Cattle drives in the United States}} On the long trips the cattlemen would have a lot of difficulties. The trips could take up to two months. They had to cross major rivers like the [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]] and the Red, and innumerable smaller creeks, plus the topographic challenges of canyons, badlands, and low mountain ranges. The weather was less than ideal. In addition to these natural dangers, there were [[Cattle raiding|rustlers]], occasional conflicts with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] if a trail boss failed to pay a [[toll]] of 10 cents a head to local tribes for the right to cross Indian lands (Oklahoma at that time was Indian Territory, governed from [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]], [[Arkansas]]), and the natural contrariness of the half-wild [[Texas longhorn (cattle)| Texas longhorn cattle]] themselves, which were prone to [[stampede]] with little provocation. ==Legacy== [[Red River (film)|Red River]] (1948), directed by [[Howard Hawks]], is a fictional account of the first drive along the Chisholm Trail, starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. The trail is the subject of a [[country]] song, ''Old Chisholm Trail.'' Among those who have covered the song are [[Gene Autry]], [[Girls of the Golden West]], [[Michael Martin Murphey]], [[Tex Ritter]], and [[Roy Rogers]]. There is also an [[intermediate school]] in [[Keller, Texas]] named after the trail, named "Chisholm Trail Intermediate School". [[Chisholm Trail Heritage Center]], located in Duncan, Oklahoma, is an interactive museum dedicated to the history of the Chisholm Trail. It also has a large monument depicting a scene from the Chisholm Trail cattle drive as well as a Chisholm Trail walkway. [http://www.onthechisholmtrail.com/] William Hayt mentions the Old Chisholm Trail in his textbook "Engineering Electromagnetics". The reference appears in Section 2 of Chapter 4 when Hayt explains how potential difference between two points is independent of the path connecting them. "We may proceed from B to A on a straight line or via the Old Chisholm Trail; the answer is the same". ==Notes== <references/> ==References== *Tennant. H.S. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v014/v014p084.html "The Two Cattle Trails"], ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 9:4 (December 1931) 84-122 (accessed August 16, 2006). ''(and [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v014/images/v014p108map.jpg map])'' ==External links== * [http://www.vlib.us/old_west/trails/cthist.html History on the trail from the "Kansas Heritage Group"] * [http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/enc/chsmtrl.htm Oklahoma Historical Society Page on the Chisholm Trail by Steven D. Dortch] * {{Handbook of Texas|id=CC/ayc2|name=Chisholm Trail}} * [http://www.thechisholmtrail.com/ Along the Chisholm Trail] Web site with maps, history, monuments, and guides for visiting. * [http://hennessey.lib.ok.us/map3.htm Map of the Trail] Single web site with a simple reference map. {{Wild West}} [[Category:History of Kansas]] [[Category:History of Oklahoma]] [[Category:Historic trails and roads in Texas]] [[Category:Trails and roads in the American Old West]] [[Category:Historic trails and roads in the United States]] [[de:Chisholm Trail]]