DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Col. Ranald S.
Mackenzie — born 1840, died 1889 — was a United States Army man, and the Army had orders for him in the 1870s: go out to the Texas frontiers and conquer the Indians who were raiding there. Now that alone would be enough of a mission for most men. But Mackenzie had a little something extra on his plate.
He was heading toward New Mexico, and he had a specific target in mind — a ring of traders. Not soldiers, not raiders, but traders. Men who were paying Indians to steal cattle and horses, which tells you something about the kind of commerce that was passing for business out on the frontier.
So Mackenzie put together his column — 240 enlisted men and eight officers — and he started movin'. And here's the part worth leanin' in for: he wanted this move to be swift. He wanted it secret.
He marched past this very point on or about August 1, 1872, pushing along the draw right here, and he wasn't exactly announcing himself with a brass band. A secret march with nearly 250 men through open country — that takes some doin'. Whether the ring of traders ever saw him coming, the marker doesn't say.
What it does say is that the path his men beat into the earth turned out to be good for something long after the expedition was done. Scouts used it. Settlers used it.
The land remembered those boots and hooves moving through in the summer of 1872, and the traces of that route are still known today as Mackenzie's Trail. Some men carve their names in stone. Ranald Mackenzie carved his into the ground itself, and the ground held on.
What the marker says
Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie (1840-89) of the United States Army was ordered in the 1870s to conquer Indians on Texas frontiers. He led 240 enlisted men and eight officers in an expedition along the draw here. Heading toward New Mexico, he hoped to break up a ring of traders paying Indians to steal cattle and horses. He marched past this point about August 1, 1872, in a swift, secret move against the traders. The path beaten out by his men was serviceable later to scouts and settlers. Its traces are still known as Mackenzie's Trail. (1977)