Cattle Trail Crossing

Near this site ran one of the many feeder branches of the Chisholm Trail, the best-known of the cattle trails that linked the grasslands of Texas with northern markets. The original trail, stretching from the North Canadian to the Arkansas River, was blazed in 1865 by Jesse Chisholm, a half-Scottish and half-Cherokee trader. This 220-mile route was soon used by drovers and extended north and south, with branches from the Rio Grande gradually joining the main trail at the Red River. Though unpredictable Texas weather and hostile Indians sometimes kept drovers from the main route, certain points remained fixed, including the Trinity River ford at Fort Worth just south of here, where cattle might wait for weeks to cross after flooding. By 1895, the fenced range, railroad, and quarantines against the fever tick had reduced the cattle flow from Texas on the hoof to a trickle, but the trail had helped restore the Texas economy after the Civil War and left a legacy in folksong and legend of cowboy days on the untamed Texas frontier.

Texas · United States