DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Western Cattle Trail Crossings at Fort Griffin — and friend, this is one worth hearing. Now, cattle and Texas go back a long ways. All the way back to the early Spanish mission days, in fact.
And after the Civil War, when drovers started pushing herds north toward Missouri and Kansas, routes began to take shape across this big landscape. Most folks know about the Chisholm Trail — the Eastern Trail, as some called it. But cattlemen, being the restless, profit-minded souls they were, kept right on lookin' for new trails and new markets.
Out in the Fort Griffin area, members of the Barber Watkins Reynolds family were already pushing cattle west — all the way to New Mexico and California — back in 1868. These folks weren't waiting around for somebody else to blaze the path. Then comes 1874.
A man named John T. Lytle loads up thirty-five hundred head of longhorns from south Texas and drives them all the way to Nebraska. That's not a short walk, people.
And somewhere along that drive, Lytle figures out something important — this route could sustain cattle all the way to a shipping point at Dodge City, Kansas. That's a determination that changes things. The route that emerged from that became known by a few names — the Western Trail, the Fort Griffin Trail, the Dodge City Trail.
Take your pick. It started down near Bandera, worked its way up to Baird, where it fanned out at several points to give the cattle optimum grazing room. Then north of Albany, the trail turned drovers right toward Fort Griffin, crossing the Clear Fork of the Brazos River — just a quarter mile north of where that marker stands — and at other points upriver as well.
From there, multiple paths pressed northward, eventually merging back together and finally crossing the Red River up in Wilbarger County. And Fort Griffin itself? It wasn't just a dot on the map.
It was a watering point, a supply point — an important one. When you're movin' thousands of cattle through dry Texas country, you don't overlook a place like that. Now here's where the numbers start getting big enough to make your head swim.
Just two years after Lytle's pioneering drive, somewhere between seventy-three thousand and a hundred and eight thousand head of cattle came through the Fort Griffin area in a single season. That was roughly a quarter of all of Texas' northbound cattle. A quarter.
Let that settle in. By 1879, as rail lines pushed across the Eastern Trail country and made the Chisholm route less necessary, the Western Trail stepped up and became the primary Texas cattle route. The primary one.
And it kept that title all the way to the last drive — led by a man named John Blocker in 1893. By the time that last herd moved through, somewhere between three million and five million cattle had passed through this area on their way to northern markets. Three to five million animals, crossing a river a quarter mile from where you might be standin' right now.
Cattle raising is still important in Shackelford County today — a living legacy of everything those drovers, and those longhorns, and men like Lytle and Blocker left behind. The trail is gone, but the land remembers.
What the marker says
Cattle have been important to Texas' economy since early Spanish mission days. Before and after the Civil War, routes developed for driving herds through Texas to sell in Missouri and Kansas. The best known was the Eastern, or Chisholm Trail, but cattlemen continued seeking new trails and markets. In 1868, members of the Barber Watkins Reynolds family drove cattle to New Mexico and California from the Fort Griffin area.In 1874, John T. Lytle drove 3,500 head of longhorns from south Texas to Nebraska on a new trail, which he determined could sustain cattle to a shipping point at Dodge City, Kansas. The route became known as the Western, Fort Griffin or Dodge City Trail, and Fort Griffin served as an important watering and supply point. The trail began near Bandera and proceeded to Baird, where it fanned out at several points for optimum grazing. North of Albany, the route took drovers toward Fort Griffin, crossing the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in this vicinity (1/4 mi. N) and at other upriver points. Multiple paths continued northward, merged again and finally crossed the Red River in Wilbarger County.Two years later, between 73,000 and 108,000 head--about a quarter of Texas' northern-bound cattle--came through the Fort Griffin area. By 1879, as rail lines extended across the Eastern Trail area, the Western Trail became the primary Texas cattle route and continued as such until the last drive, led by John Blocker in 1893. By then, three to five million cattle had passed through this area on their way to northern markets. Cattle raising continues to be important in Shackelford County, a legacy of the early trail. (2006)