First Cattle Drive on the Chisholm Trail - DeWitt County, Texas
Posted by: 
txoilgas
N 29° 07.881 W 097° 16.560
14R E 667718 N 3223766
Beginning of the first trail drive of 1,800 cattle from the area on the Chisholm Trail to St. Joseph, Mo.
Waymark Code: WM5QWW
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/04/2009
Views: 17
From site near here, 1800 Longhorns were moved out April 1, 1866, on first trail drive from this area to northern markets. Crockett Cardwell, owner of cattle bedground, had gathered the herd. The trail boss was Thornton Chisholm, a native of DeWitt County. Indian Scout Jesse Chisholm in 1865 had marked the upper trail from the North Canadian to the Arkansas River. Road here became a prong of the famous ChisholmTtrail, going past Gonzales, San Marcos, Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Gatesville, Glen Rose and Red River Station, into Indian territory. The 30 men of this 1866 drive to St. Joseph, Mo., were gone 7 months, 10 days. The cook and many of the men made numerous later drives; but Thornton Chisholm died in 1868. 260,000 cattle - accumulated in Texas in 4 years of Civil War - went in 1866 up the Chisholm Trail, a flood channel from a vast reservoir of beef. Sold in northern markets or to the U.S. Government to feed Indians on reservations or soldiers in forts, the trailed cattle helped Texas recover from the war. From 1866 to 1895 at least 10,000,000 cattle were driven up the Chisholm Trail by courageous Texas cowboys - the greatest movement of animals under the control of men in all history.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event
Date of FIRST: 04/01/1866
More Information - Web URL: Not listed
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