Western Trail

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, right here in McCulloch County. Now, there are gaps in the world, and then there are gaps that changed the shape of a nation. This one, the gap in the hills called the Brady Mountains, was the kind that a whole era walked through.

Hooves, mostly. Hundreds of thousands of them. What passed through here was the Western Trail.

You might know it by another name, because this trail had several: the Dodge City Trail, the Fort Griffin Trail, or plain and simple, The Beef Trail. Said to have originated in 1876, it holds the distinction of being the last of the old-time Texas cattle trails. The ones to the east?

Farmers had closed those down, one fence line at a time. So the drives moved west. And west is where this story lives.

From near Brownsville it started, working its way up to San Antonio, then bending northwest through or near Uvalde and Kerrville. It skirted the Nueces River, came over the divide, crossed the headwaters of the South Llano River, forded the San Saba River at a place called Pegleg Crossing, ran downriver about six miles, then turned north. Near Brady, feeder trails poured in: one from Fort McKavett and points west, another from San Saba to the east.

Cattle arriving from all directions, funneling toward this very gap. Then through Cow Gap it went, likely named, the marker tells us, for Cow Creek, sitting about five hundred yards west of where that marker stands. Out the other side, it moved northwest to the Colorado River at a crossing called Beef Crossing, in a bend of the river known as Waldrip's Bend.

From there: Coleman, Baird, Fort Griffin, Vernon. And then the Red River, at Doan's Crossing, where Texas ended and something wilder began. Northward, through Indian country, the trail pushed on to Dodge City, Kansas.

And later still, further into Wyoming and Montana. The whole length of a continent, practically, stitched together by cattle and the men who moved them. Between 1876 and 1886, large numbers of cattle were driven up this trail.

In 1881 alone, that number crossed over two hundred thousand head. Say that number slowly. Two hundred thousand head.

In a single year. Through this gap. These hills.

The marker says this trail was of great worth to the territories it traversed. That's a modest way of putting it. But sometimes the plainest words carry the most weight; and sometimes the most important things in the world pass quietly through a gap in the hills, and the hills just stand there and let them go.

What the marker says

Through this gap in hills called "Brady Mountains" passed the western cattle trail, also known as "Dodge City Trail", "Fort Griffin Trail", or "The Beef Trail". Said to have originated in 1876, this was the last of the old-time Texas cattle trails, those east of here having been closed by farmers. Large numbers of cattle were driven up this trail 1876 to 1886--over 200,000 head in 1881 alone. This trail started near Brownsville and came up to San Antonio, then northwest through or near Uvalde and Kerrville. Skirting the Nueces River, it came over the divide, crossing headwaters of the South Llano River, fording San Saba River at pegleg crossing, going downriver about six miles, then turning north. Near Brady, feeder trails came from Fort McKavett and points west, and from San Saba, to the east. After leaving Cow Gap (likely so named from Cow Creek, about 500 yds. W of this marker), it went northwest and over the Colorado at "Beef Crossing" in Waldrip's Bend, then to Coleman, Baird, Fort Griffin and Vernon, spanning Red River at Doan's Crossing. Northward through Indian country it went to Dodge City, Kans., and later into Wyoming and Montana. This trail was of great worth to the territories it traversed. (1970)