DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Red River Station, up in Montague County. Now, if you were a trail boss in the years between 1867 and 1887, and you were pushing a herd north toward the Kansas railheads, there came a moment when the whole wide world narrowed down to one question: can we cross that river? And the river in question was the Red.
Red River Station was your answer — or at least, it was your best shot at one. They called it the jumping-off point on the Chisholm Cattle Trail, and that phrase carries real weight when you think about what it meant. Once you crossed here, the next place you could buy supplies was Abilene, Kansas — three hundred and fifty miles north.
Three hundred and fifty miles. So you'd better have what you needed before your boots got wet. And millions of animals crossed at this very spot.
Millions. The river had a bend right here — an abrupt bend — that checked the flow just enough to make the crossing possible. Buffalo had used it for years before the cattle drives.
Indians had used it too. Nature had written the route long before the cowboys showed up. But don't let that fool you into thinking it was easy.
The water was wide. The water was swift. Sandbars would clog the crossing without warning.
And when a herd got moving, the cattle packed in so tight, so shoulder to shoulder, that cowboys could — and the marker says this plainly — walk across on their backs. Just step right out onto a river of living animals and walk to the other side. That is a thing that happened here.
Red River Station wasn't only about cattle, though. During the Confederacy, from 1861 to 1865, this place served as an outpost for the frontier regiment that patrolled Texas' northernmost border. So even before the great cattle drives swept through, soldiers were keeping watch at this bend in the river.
Then the cattle era brought a town. A real town, with a ferry that served drovers, soldiers, freighters, and settlers returning from Indian captivity. Think about that last group for a moment — people who had endured captivity, making their way back through this crossing, back toward something like home.
About a mile to the southeast, there's a local cemetery that holds many graves of those Texas pioneers. All of it — the crossings, the drives, the soldiers, the settlers — it came through this one bend in the Red River. Three hundred and fifty miles to Abilene, and it all started here.
What the marker says
"Jumping-off point" on the famous Chisholm Cattle Trail, (1867-87), Red River Station was a main crossing and last place on trail to buy supplies until Abilene, Kan.--350 miles north. During the cattle drive era of Western history, millions of animals swam the turbulent river here en route to Kansas railhead and markets. An abrupt bend in the river checked its flow at this point, creating a natural crossing which had been used for years by buffalo and Indians. Even so, the water was wide, swift, and sometimes clogged with sand bars. Frequently cattle were so jammed cowboys could walk across on their backs. Besides a cattle crossing, the station was an outpost of the frontier regiment, which patrolled Texas' northernmost border during Confederacy (1861-65). During cattle era, a town began here, its ferry serving drovers, soldiers, freighters, and settlers returning from Indian captivity. Local cemetery (1 mi. SE) contains many graves of these Texas pioneers. (1971)