Old Military Road - Hemphill County, TX - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

County of road: Hemphill County
Location of road: CR-L, Black Kettle National Grassland Campground, off FM-2266, 12 miles E. of US-60, 3 miles N. of Canadian
Marker Erected by: State Historical Survey Committee
Date Marker Erected: 1969

Marker text:

OLD MILITARY ROAD
(1874 - 1890) One of earliest known Texas Panhandle trails. Flint-pierced mastodon bones show prehistoric men trailed this valley before Indians were here.

In 1875, U.S. Army came this way to Fort Elliott, at Mobeetie (30 miles, southwest). Mail routes and stagecoaches used this trail, 1878-1890.

Additional connecting history:
"A trading post for hunters and trappers for nearby Fort Elliot (aka "Cantonment Sweetwater"), the settlement was first a buffalo hunter's camp unofficially called "Hidetown." Connected to the major cattle-drive town of Dodge City, Kansas by the Jones-Plummer Trail, it was a destination for stagecoach freight and buffalo skinners. As it grew, the town supported the development of cattle ranches within a hundred mile radius by supplying the staples.1 The first formal name for the town was "Sweetwater." It was located on the North Fork of the Red River. The development of nearby Fort Elliott, developed to protect the buffalo trade from Indian raiders, stimulated further growth of the town. On January 24, 1876, occurred the "Sweetwater Shootout," Anthony Cook (aka Corporal "Sergeant" Melvin A. King; of the then 4th Cavalry-Company H, stationed at Fort Elliot), shot and killed Mollie Brennan (a dance hall girl and former prostitute). Sgt. King then wounded Bat Masterson, who in return killed him (King may have shot Masterson first and then killed Brennan, accounts vary).[3][4] Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight said about the town: "I think it was the hardest place I ever saw on the frontier except Cheyenne, Wyoming."

When the town applied for a post office in 1879, the name "Sweetwater" was already in use. The town took the new name of "mobeetie," believed to be a Native American word for "Sweetwater." Because of the presence of Fort Elliott and Mobeetie's importance as a commercial center, Wheeler County became the first politically organized county in the Texas Panhandle, in 1879. Mobeetie became the first county seat for Wheeler County. From 1880 to 1883, the notorious Robert Clay Allison ranched with his two brothers, John William and Jeremiah Monroe, twelve miles northeast of town, at the junction of the Washita River and Gageby Creek. One day, Allison rode through Mobeetie drunk and naked.[5][6] Allison married America Medora "Dora" McCulloch in Mobeetie on February 15, 1881.[7] By 1881, Mobeetie was the judicial center of the Thirty-fifth District, made up of fifteen counties." ~ Wikipedai

Road of Trail Name: Old Military Road State: Texas County: Hemphill County Historical Significance: A road older than recorded history; carved out in centuries of wintertime travel to the south, spring migration to the north, by millions of bison and by Indians who lived by hunting these large animals. Important in era of Texas Panhandle settlement. Used in 1873-1874, when first lifelong residents put dugout dwellings in the Panhandle and began to hunt buffalo to fill demand for hides and meat. Fort Elliott, established 1875 to regulate Indians resisting white settlement, soon had as a neighbor the town of Mobeetie, which for some years was the county seat for 28 counties and a place to go for medical aid, supplies, and access to stage travel. Years in use: 1987 - 1890 How you discovered it: I was again, searching for Texas Historical Markers, and specifically the Cottonwood tree used by pioneers as a landmark in the 1860s. This marker and the site was just next to it. Website Explination: http://www.canadiantx.org/history.html Why?: When the United States Government authorized the hunting of buffalo, trails opened from here to Dodge City, Kansas, the closest town of any size, south to Fort Griffin, in Shackelford County, Texas and from Fort Elliott at Old Mobeetie to Fort Supply. These well-used and well-defined trails, used by hunters, then the army, also brought adventurers, desperadoes, more ranchers, the railroad and fences to Hemphill County. Directions: Explained for an easier trip. Leave Canadian and go north on US-60, turn right (east) when you reach FM-2266. Travel this beautiful tree lined and lonely road for 12 miles and then you will come to Lake Marvin. This is also the Black Kettle National Grasslands. Go right and you are on Country Road L, but you must circle the lake, the marker will be on your right 3/4 the way around. Go left and you must look for and turn on Country Road L, and the marker will then be on your left in about a 1/4 mile. A campground is just across the street. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: Not listed

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