DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. April 1, 1866. You might think that date sounds like a prank, but nobody was laughing — least of all the 1,800 Longhorns being pushed out from a site near here in DeWitt County.
This was the first trail drive from this area to northern markets, and somebody had to get those cattle gathered and moving. That somebody was Crockett Cardwell, owner of the cattle bedground, who had assembled the herd. The man riding point as trail boss was Thornton Chisholm, a native of DeWitt County.
Now, the trail itself — that's a name you've heard. The Chisholm Trail. The upper portion of it had been marked in 1865 by Indian Scout Jesse Chisholm, who traced it from the North Canadian to the Arkansas River.
The road here became a prong of that famous trail, running past Gonzales, San Marcos, Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Gatesville, Glen Rose, and Red River Station, on into Indian territory. A long road. A hard road.
Thirty men rode out on that 1866 drive, bound for St. Joseph, Missouri. They were gone seven months and ten days.
Think on that — seven months and ten days of dust, river crossings, and whatever the open country threw at them. The cook made it back. Many of the men made numerous later drives.
But Thornton Chisholm died in 1868, and that trail that carried his name carried on without him. Here's the scale of what was happening. Texas had spent four years in the Civil War, and in those four years cattle had accumulated — 260,000 of them piling up with nowhere to go.
In 1866 alone, that whole pent-up flood moved north up the Chisholm Trail. Sold in northern markets, or to the United States Government to feed Indians on reservations and soldiers in forts, those trailed cattle helped Texas claw its way back from the war. A flood channel, the marker calls it, draining a vast reservoir of beef.
And then it just kept going. From 1866 to 1895, at least ten million cattle were driven up the Chisholm Trail by courageous Texas cowboys. The marker doesn't mince words about what that means — it calls it the greatest movement of animals under the control of men in all history.
All of it started from a site near here. Thirty men, 1,800 Longhorns, and a April morning that nobody forgot.
What the marker says
From site near here, 1800 Longhorns were moved out April 1, 1866, on first trail drive from this area to northern markets. Crockett Cardwell, owner of cattle bedground, had gathered the herd. The trail boss was Thornton Chisholm, a native of DeWitt County. Indian Scout Jesse Chisholm in 1865 had marked the upper trail from the North Canadian to the Arkansas River. Road here became a prong of the famous ChisholmTtrail, going past Gonzales, San Marcos, Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Gatesville, Glen Rose and Red River Station, into Indian territory. The 30 men of this 1866 drive to St. Joseph, Mo., were gone 7 months, 10 days. The cook and many of the men made numerous later drives; but Thornton Chisholm died in 1868. 260,000 cattle - accumulated in Texas in 4 years of Civil War - went in 1866 up the Chisholm Trail, a flood channel from a vast reservoir of beef. Sold in northern markets or to the U.S. Government to feed Indians on reservations or soldiers in forts, the trailed cattle helped Texas recover from the war. From 1866 to 1895 at least 10,000,000 cattle were driven up the Chisholm Trail by courageous Texas cowboys - the greatest movement of animals under the control of men in all history.