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 Chisholm Trail Mural - Sunray, Oklahoma
N 34° 24.648 W 097° 57.920
14S E 595088 N 3808191
This large mural is located between Duncan and Comanche, Oklahoma, on old US 81 and the Chisholm Trail.
Waymark Code: WMHVW9
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2013
Views: 8
This large mural is an excellent example of what awaits those who get even a little bit away from the beaten track. US 81, running North-South through western Oklahoma essentially follows the old Chisholm Trail. In many places, such as between Duncan and Comanche, a traveller can get an even better feel for the Trail by following Old Highway 81. In many places, the vistas are little changed from those seen by the cowboys using the trail.
Sunray and Meridian are neighboring unincorporated towns on that stretch of old highway. Both towns are now part of the Comanche Independent School District. FAME Academy is in what used to be the home of the Meridian Elementary Rockets. The building is now home to the Comanche District's alternative education program for grades 6-12. The programs relies very heavily on its arts program to help reintegrate students. Each year, the focus is on a different art; pottery and mosaics, for example.
At some point, the program obviously focused on mural painting. The Chisholm Trail mural is one of two large murals on the school grounds. It looks great, but a close examination shows that much of it is painted in the very two-dimensional manner which is common among young artists. There is also a juvenile quality to certain aspects, such as the horses. Nonetheless, it is well worth a drive and stop along the old highway. The mural faces the highway, so one does not have to go on school property to enjoy it.
The mural takes up the entire length of one of the school buildings. One of its most amazing aspects is the door within the mural. Look closely at the enlarged photos towards the right of the building. In the area of the Native American village, you can see that the painting completely covers and almost perfectly camouflages a door!
Most of the mural depicts various scenes which might have been seen during a cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail. There are cowboys watching over the cows they're herding. In the middle there is a large area depicting cowboys near the chuckwagon after a long day's work. The mural also depicts a typical Plains tribe village which the drovers might have encountered, typically Comanche. There is also an area depicting cowboys engaged in a common activity - breaking their horses.
The strange-looking grey obelisk at the very top of the mural, just to the right of the left window would certainly not have been seen by the cowboys. That is a picture of the official Chisholm Trail Monument located in the middle of nowhere on Monument Hill near Addington, Oklahoma.
It is also interesting to note that, looking at the mural, you are facing almost due West. The sunset depicted in the mural is much like the one you would see if the building were not in the way.
For any who are still reading, here are some interesting historical notes:
1. Jesse Chisholm was part Cherokee and never actually drove cattle along the trail named after him. In fact, he died about a year after the large cattle drives started along "his" trail. Chisholm had acted as a scout and also as a liaison between the Republic of Texas, the area Native Americans, particularly the Cheyenne, and the US government. Part of his duties included shipping dry goods into and out of Western Oklahoma.
2. The trail was called Jesse Chisholm's Trail during his lifetime because it essentially followed the trails which had been blazed by his supply wagons. It was only after his death that it became known as the Chisholm Trail.
3. Even though Texas wants to claim part of the Trail as its own, modern scholarship says that it is not entitled to do so. Regardless of what trail you followed through Texas (and there were dozens of them), you did not actually start up Chisholm's Trail until you crossed the Red River south of Duncan. The Trail did, however, extend to the railroads in southern and central Kansas.
Road of Trail Name: Jesse Chisholm's Trail (historic name); Chisholm Trail (modern name)
State: Oklahoma
County: Stephens
Historical Significance:
The trail was used by wagons to supply Jesse Chisholm's store near Duncan in the early days of Oklahoma Territory. Later, it was used to herd cattle which had been collected into large herds just south of the Red River, north to the rail yards in southern and central Kansas.
Years in use: roughly 2 decades after the Civil War.
How you discovered it:
Having lived in Oklahoma since 1974 and travelling extensively in the western parts of the State during that time, you almost can't avoid the trail. Signs of it & references to it are everywhere along the US 81 corridor.
Book on Wagon Road or Trial:
The Chisholm Trail by Wayne Gard: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080611536X/ref=nosim/thechisholmtr-20
Jesse Chisholm by Ralph B. Cushman: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890158266/ref=nosim/thechisholmtr-20
Jesse Chisholm by Stan Hoig: http://books.google.com/books/about/Jesse_Chisholm_Ambassador_of_the_Plains.html?id=2NJ5AAAAMAAJ
Website Explination:
There are numerous such sites, but the best and most informative one is: http://www.thechisholmtrail.com/ .
The official Oklahoma historical Society page can be found at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/c/ch045.html .
Why?:
After the Civil War, for a number of reasons, the Texas cattle ranchers could no longer herd their cattle into Indian Territory (eastern Oklahoma), Arkansas, and Missouri. Yet the cattle still had to get to the Eastern stockyards. Western Oklahoma (Oklahoma Territory) was much more undeveloped, still being a land of mostly open prairie which was patrolled by the cavalry outposts at Ft. Sill and Ft. Reno. There were a few wagon trails into the area, mainly to help supply the two forts. It was only natural that when the cattle started to cross this part of modern-day Oklahoma to get to the Kansas rail yards, they started following the wagon trails.
It was never used as a stage road.
Directions:
On grounds of FAME Academy, west side of Old Highway 81, Sunray, Oklahoma
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Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this Waymark the poster must have a picture of either themselves, GPSr, or mascot. People in the picture with information about the waymark are preferred. If the waymarker can not be in the picture a picture of their GPSr or mascot will qualify. There are no exceptions to this rule.
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