Fort McKavett - Fort Clark Military Road

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this stretch of Texas ground. Now, out here in Kimble County, you're standing near what used to be one of the most essential lines drawn across the Texas frontier, a road that didn't ask much of the land except one thing: water. That's the detail worth holding onto.

From nearby Fort Terrett, this road was laid out in 1852, running two directions at once. Head south, you'd reach Fort Clark. Head north, you'd find Fort McKavett.

It wasn't surveyed for its scenery or its ease; it was selected mainly because it had water available along the route. Out in this country, in 1852, that wasn't a small consideration. That was everything.

The road sat quiet when the forts went quiet, but come 1868, when those forts were reactivated, this old track found its purpose again. Freight rolled over it. Mail traveled it.

Troops moved along it, and with them came supplies, the lifeblood of a military presence trying to hold the edge of a still-unsettled frontier. A few immigrants passed through as well, and pioneer ranches took root along its length. But there was another kind of traffic this road became noted for: the forays of Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, pushing out to the northwest against hostile Indians.

When Mackenzie rode, this road was part of how he got there. Then, 1883, the forts were abandoned. The soldiers left, the mail riders left, and the road might've just faded back into the grass, except the ranchers weren't quite done with it.

They drove cattle to market over parts of that road, wringing one more use out of something the army had left behind. A road built for water, used for war, and finished driving cattle. In Texas, that's not a road falling out of use, that's a road earning its rest.

What the marker says

FROM NEARBY FT. TERRETT, THIS ROAD IN 1852 LED SOUTH TO FT. CLARK AND NORTH TO FT. McKAVETT. SELECTED MAINLY BECAUSE IT HAD WATER AVAILABLE, IT SERVED AS ROUTE FOR FREIGHT AND MAIL, 1868, WHEN FORTS WERE REACTIVATED. OVER IT WENT TROOPS, SUPPLIES, A FEW IMMIGRANTS AND PIONEER RANCHES. IT WAS NOTED ALSO FOR PASSAGE OF FORAYS OF COL. RANALD MACKENZIE AGAINST THE HOSTILE INDIANS TO THE NORTHWEST. AFTER FORTS WERE ABANDONED IN 1883, RANCHERS DROVE CATTLE TO MARKET OVER PARTS OF THE ROAD. (1966)