The Frisco Trailway

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Sutton County has some stories worth keepin', and the tale of the Frisco Trailway is one of the good ones. A hundred miles.

Say that slow for a second. A hundred miles of dedicated, fenced cattle lane, carved right across the land, used from 1900 all the way to 1930. That's not a path somebody wandered out one afternoon.

That took intention. That took somebody who knew exactly what the cattle business needed and went out and built it. That somebody was E.

F. Tillman, an agent for the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway. His job was getting cattle to the railhead, and the railhead was at Brady.

So Tillman built himself a Market Lane, running cattle up through Fort McKavett and Menard to make that connection. Now here's where the details start painting a picture. This lane wasn't just a rough track through the brush.

It was fenced, generally two hundred and fifty feet wide, which is wide enough that a herd could move without bunching and crowding and losing weight on the walk. And every ten to fifteen miles, there were watered holdover traps. Spots where you could rest the cattle, let them drink, let them settle before the next stretch.

Somebody thought this through. Every mile of it. The lane was important in the development of Sutton County, and it stood as a working piece of the cattle trade for three decades before its time passed.

This marker was placed in memory of Joe B. Ross, historian. A man who kept stories like this one from going quiet.

Seems right to say his name out loud one more time out here on the road.

What the marker says

Important in development of Sutton County. 100-mile Market Lane, used 1900-1930. Built by E. F. Tillman (agent, Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railway), to move cattle via Fort McKavett and Menard to railhead at Brady. Fenced and 250 feet wide (generally), lane had watered holdover traps every 10 to 15 miles. Marker in memory of Joe B. Ross, historian.