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Once the Road to Riches and Romance THE OLD CA TTLE TRAILS By MATTHEW PAXTON. UASS now grows on the North- lowed the Chishoim Trail northward North Fork Red river, Croton creek, ern Cattle Trail of Texas, which from San Antonio. Another would say it was not until the packers of Chicago, twentyelght years, A million horses was once the road to riches and crossed North Fork Red river .at Wich- Kansas City and Omaha introduced also had been ridden or driven over the he followed the Chishoim Trail through ita mountains, up North Fork to In- dressed beef and refrigeration that cat- trail, and they brought as good prices as romance. And where not over- the western part of the. State. With the dian Camp. grown by grass, the trail has be,en wiped tle began to be loaded by the thousands the cattle. organization of the Old Time Trail Driv- "From Indian creek to Elm creek, in Abilene and other cow towns of Kan- But, enormous though, as was this out by the tiller of the soil. Here arid ers Association, one of tho first tasks Cash creek, Washita, Canadian. San sas. Until the .seventies there was only wealth, it represents only a small part there, you may still find cow paths four was to determine just where these trails creek, Wolf creek, Otter creek* Beaver pork packing and meat was preserved of the contribution of Mr, Longhorn and feet apart for a width of several miles. lay and their proper names. It was then creek, Wild Horse and Cimarron, where by drying and pickling. Dressed meat his side partner, the mustang, Land That is part of the old trail. But the long ascertained that Jesse Chishoim had Red Clark conducted a road house called and refrigeration made it possible to con- became valuable for stock raising and beaten paths, narrow and once well de- pioneered the trail along the Arkansas 'Long Horn Roundup,' on up Bear creek, vey the Texas steer in edible form to increased from $1 to $10 an acre as a fined through the State* of Texas, Ok- river, while John Chishum had blazed Bluff creek, Mailey's road house, Mul- New England, where there was the result of the drive. lahoma, Arkansas, Colorado and Kansas, a trail to the head of the Concho river berry creek and Dodge City." in West Texas. Another trail ran north greatest scarcity of cattle. There are other heroes in the history have about disappeared. Fict.ion writers Mr. Saunders explained that several Romance there was and adventure on of the State, but it would be hard to pictured it as a beaten highway without along the Pecos river into the Colorado of the Texas counties were not organ- country. It had been pioneered by the Northern Trail. Men like George find one who has done as much for the a blade nf grass upon it, but those who ized at that time and none organized in Saunders and Colonel Ike Pryor were happiness and development of the State wrote in this way of the trail probably Charles Goodnight, of Goodnight, Texas, the Indian Territory. lured to the trail by tales of buffalo as the Texas steer. were looking out on the New York har- in the late sixties, and was known as Texas Cattle Poor and Land Poor. hunts, stampedes and Indian encoun- bor as they wrote and the chances are tho Goodnight and Loving Trail. ters. Even women were attracted to the Longhbrn Now a Curiosity. they had never been west of Buffalo, These trails of the West served only Texas was cattle poor and land poor life of the trail. Samuel Dunn Hous- What was his reward? He is missing New York. a small portion of the herds that were when the drives started. The Carpet ton, of San Antonio, picked up a boy at from the range. Breeded cattle like the For the Northern ('attic Trail never driven North into Kansas and the Baggers had issued land certificates a livery stable in Clayton, New Mexico, Shorthorn, the Hereford, have taken his was a broad highway, as we find high- Northwest. Most of the herds followed which came to be worth next to nothing. and hired him. He called himself Wil- place. Soon, what is said to be the last ways today. It consisted merely of cow the Northern Trail. In some parts of the State, land was not lie Matthews. Willie was good-natured, of the species on the range, although paths parallel to each other. For a time "The Trail Drivers of Texas," the worth more than twenty cents an acre. and when there was a storm at night he one or two of his mates may be scat- it wound from Brownsville to Kansas, most complete history of the cattle Probably the average value throughout would get up and stay with the cattle tered about, will be driven by cowboys but its existence was somewhat brief. trails, contains many discussions of the the State was about one dollar an acre. until it was over. "The Kid," as Hous- from Bandera, Texas, to the zoo in The Old San Antonio Road, which was location of the Northern Trail. In vol- Except in East'Texas there were no ton called him, stayed with the herd for Brackenridge Park, San Antonio. a cattle trail no less than the Northern ume II, George W. three or four The great . Edwards Plateau, be- Trail, had a continuous existence of Saunders, organiz- months. But at tween Austin and the Rio Grande river, < more than a hundred years, and even er of the Old Time Hugo, Colorado, probably the most expansive grazing now parts of it are in use. Trail Drivers of Texas, who collect- "the kid" said he strip of ground in the country, now is ' Northern Trail Endured 28 Years. wanted to quit be- dotted with Merino sheep, Angora goats ed the material for cause he was as well as breeded cattle, but old ''Dog- But the Northern Trail endured for both volume s, homesick. gy," old "Sea Lion," old "Hatrack," as only twenty-eight years. Before that gives the log of he was called in various communities, time cattle were driven to New Orleans the cattle trails "The Kid" Turns has become a curiosity for a zoo. His and to the army posts, and a few cattle from Texas to Out to Be a peat horns proved a problem, since one were driven over an old military trail as Kansas and the Woman. Longhorn in a cattle car could wreck far as Sedalia, Mo. The Northern Trail N o r t h west ern havoc if aroused; and not many could States. Later that day did not Really come into existence until a well-dressed girl be hauled in a car. But, in addition to the Kansas Pacific railroad reached "Starting at the came but to the the difficulty of transportation, a Here- Abilene, Kansas, after which there wan Rio Grande river," camp and it turn- ford could be raised cheaper, in terms a continuous stream of cattle north- M r. S a u n d e r s ed out that she of quality meat, than the Longhorn, So ward from Brownsville, Texas, and writes, "the trail the king of the old ranges has passed. intermediate points. They were driv- was "the kid." p a s s e. d through Then she told Even Brahma cattle, from India, which en in herds of about 2.500 each. Cameron, Willacy, are immune to the dangerous tick, may Beginning in 1807. .15.000 cattle Houston that her Hidalgo, Brooks, father was an old- be found in considerable numbers. There were driven to Abilene. By 1875, Kenedy, Kleberg, are eleven herds of them and some the peak was reached and 750.- time trail-driver Nueces, Jim Wells, from Southern breeders say they are more suited for 000 cattle were driven up the trail. San Patricio, Live Uecent photo of a group of Longhorns whose ancestors were the kind of cattle that made Texas than any other State. Gradually from that time on the num- famous "The Old Cattle Trails." Texas who had Oak, Bee,' Goliacl, settled in Caldwell, No monument has been erected to the ber grew less and less until it closed in Karnes, Wilson, Gonzales, Guacla- cattle ranches. Longhorn cattle had Longhorn, although the Buckhorn sa- 1805 before the advance of the railroads Kansas. Her father had talked so much lupe, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, William- multiplied until there were more than about the trail that she had made up her loon at San Antonio, which has the and other factors which forced down the son, Bell, Falls, Bosque, McLennan, Hill, four million of them, in 1867. While largest collection of horns in the world, prices of Longhorn cattle. min.d she was going over it, too. So, Johnson, Tarrant, Denton, Wise, Cook there was this great surplus of meat on dressing up like a man, she had told her contains many fine specimens of their Cattle drivers usually speak of it as and Montague counties to Red River sta- the hoof in Texas, the Eastern States family that she was going to spend a few heads and horns. But Longhorns are the Northern Trail. Many call it the tion, or crossing where the Texas Trail w,ere cattle poor. days in the country, and then she set out represented in the monument which will Chishoim Trail, however. If they refer intersected the Chisholm Trail. But this condition had existed to some be erected in Brackenridge park, San to the trail pioneered by Jesse Chishoim to find a driver who would hire her.

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