Chisholm Trail - Enid, OK - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

This Chisholm Trail Marker is just inside the southwest entrance to Memorial Park Cemetery, on the north side of Enid. The granite marker is set in a wrought-iron frame decorated with wagon wheels. The marker includes a map of the trail and a graphic of a cowboy herding cattle. The text of the marker is:
THE CHISHOLM TRAIL

When the Civil War ended in 1865, Texas soldiers returned home to find neglected ranches and much of their cattle gone wild. Millions of these unbranded longhorns roamed over southern Texas while a meat shortage existed in the northeast. Cattlemen saw these cattle as a source of n eeded income. The problem was getting them to the nearest railroad 800 miles north in Abilene, Kansas.

In 1866 Jesse Chisholm, a Scottish-Cherokee trader, had pioneered a wagon train through Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, to his trading post near Wichita, Kansas. Ranchers decided to risk driving their cattle over this long trail and named it the Chisholm Trail. It provided good grass, had no settlements, mountains, or forests, but there were many hazards. Flooded rivers, cattle rustlers, storms, stampedes, and hostile Indian raids. In spite of this an estimated 8 million Texas longhorns were driven north by hardy and adventurous cowboys between 1867 and 1889. The largest migration of domesticated animals in the entire world. One of the principal watering places was the Government Springs in Enid, now Government Springs Park.

As railroads extended south and ranges were fenced the trail fell into disuse but not from memory. The longhorns and the cowboys are famed in story and song and are forever etched into the history of the American West.

In 1928 historic Memorial Park, the oldest cemetery of its kind in Oklahoma, was developed on Highway 81 which runs along this old trail through the heart of Oklahoma and is now officially designated as the Historic Chisholm Trail Route.

More than 100 years after the last herd moved up this trail, ruts pounded into the earth by cattle hooves may still be seen in several locations in Garfield County.

Erected & Dedicated in May 1999

Road of Trail Name: Chisholm Trail State: Oklahoma County: Garfield Historical Significance: More cattle were moved along the Chisholm Trail than on any other in history. Years in use: 22 How you discovered it: I grew up in central Oklahoma; Chisholm Trail markers and memorials are found in many parks and plazas here. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: The Chisholm Trail : A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail by Sam P. Ridings ISBN13: 9780578420400 Website Explination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisholm_Trail Why?: Cattle Trail from Texas to Kansas, so that cattle could be shipped northeast east by rail. Directions: Just inside the southwest gate of Memorial Park Cemetery, on the east side of Highway 81.

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