Old Chisholm Trail

The reason I’m very interested in this old trail in the history of America will show, as you read on.

Thinking about the old Chisholm Trail might bring mental scenes of herding cattle from Western movies. Lots of running longhorns, tired cowboys trying to keep control, fearing the ever present danger of a stampede, and dust seen for miles around, announcing yet another cattle run.

Unlike the movies, running cattle took tough and determined men, right down to those who did the cooking, taking the chuck wagon ahead to set up camp at the next stop and preparing to feed those tense, tired, and sweaty cowboys. This was, and, still today, is not the life for any man who does not wish to face danger and discomfort on a 24 hour a day basis.

Chisholm Trail, the most famous of them all, was made famous after the end of the Civil War. Texans, fortunately, did not suffer the destructive physical consequences of this war, as in other parts of the country. They did, however, suffer from lack of money. It was their good fortune, though, to possess over 3 million wild longhorn cattle.

The big problem was that these cattle weren't worth much more than $3, $4, or $5 each in Texas. In the Northern and Eastern cities, though, a steer could be sold for around $40. This was too good to pass up.

Unfortunately, the railroad hadn't reached Texas, and shipping them by boat was out, due to their wild nature. So, there was only one way left, which was to herd them to the railroads.

The first attempt at herding these wild beasts, in 1866, took the cowboys and their cattle north, going through Indian Territory, to Missouri. The cattle were then herded into railroad cars for the rest of the trip to the east. There were several big problems with this first route: Not enough grass for grazing, too many settlements, and not enough flat prairie for easier herding.

Luckily for the cowboys, a man by the name of Joseph MCCOY got wind of the problem and settled it. Since the Kansas Pacific was in the process of constructing railroad tracks to span the flat Kansas plains, Joseph MCCOY built pens for loading the cattle on trains in Abilene. He, also, erected buildings in which the tired cowboys could stay, getting a long needed bath, a decent meal, and resting in a comfortable bed. And, Mr. MCCOY let it be known that he was willing to buy all the longhorns the cowboys could get to Abilene.

Still, a new and better route had to be found through flat lands with enough grazing areas for all the cattle, and, enough water to quench the thirst of the tired men and cattle.

Well, already, a trail had been found by BLACK BEAVER, a man of 100% Native blood in the Delaware Nation, along with his friend, Jesse CHISHOLM, who was of mixed Cherokee blood, and a trader. This old trail was named after Jesse CHISHOLM. It could have been named after BLACK BEAVER. We'll never know why. A possibility is that BLACK BEAVER's real name was SE KET TU M QUAH. And, it wasn't pronounced as written in English!

Well, the cowboys wanted to try this trail and, that they did! This old trail went from Texas into Indian Territory at the Red River Station, near what is now Terral. It ran north close to the present towns of Duncan, Chickasha, El Reno, Kingfisher, Henessey, and Enid. Then, it left the Cherokee Strip around Medford. The U. S. 81 highway of today sort of runs along side that old trail.

The cowboys were thrilled to have a good route to take those feisty longhorns on. Mr. MCCOY was able to ship around 35,000 head of cattle to market in 1867. The trail worked so well that it was used for the next twenty years, making all happy. Each year the cowboys increased the amount of those longhorns they took on the Chisholm Trail. Can you imagine that those sturdy cowboys managed to take over 3 million longhorns along that trail in their first ten years! Wow!

The Chisholm Trail was used over the years until 1874 when many decided on using the Great Western Trail that went further west through Indian Territory. The Chisholm Trail was no longer used by 1874 due to more settlements forming, Indian Nations charging fees for the right to go through their lands, and some new cattle towns, Dodge City being one.

In the early 1890s railroads had successfully been built through Indian Territory from the south and north. Of course, with this mode of transportation, trail drives were no longer profitable and ceased.

The Rock Island line, being built parallel to the Old Chisholm, caused a number of towns to sprout close to the tracks. Duncan and Waurika were two of those towns.

One wonders what that area would have been like without people like BLACK BEAVER, Jesse CHISHOLM, and other trail blazers. And, of course, one can't forget all of those who drove cattle through Indian Territory, and, those who had the fortitude to settle there and make the area home. None of those people had it easy, but, it would appear that most had been bitten by the wanderlust bug and were of strong and sturdy stock. Weaklings did not survive in that old frontier during the wild and woolly lawless days. And, of course, disease took it's toll.

Today, there are still vestiges of the old Chisholm Trail visible, here and there, mostly in the form of ravines dug along the trail by rain. When the wind blows across the prairie, one can almost hear those cowboys shouting and the cattle again crossing Oklahoma on the Chisholm Trail.

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