Going Up The Chisholm Trail - Waco, TX
N 31° 33.730 W 097° 07.583
14R E 677823 N 3493429
A large gray granite marker memorializing those cowboys and their cattle who drove herds from south Texas northward toward the Kansas train terminals by way to the famous Chisholm Trail.
Waymark Code: WMZQBD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/21/2018
Views: 5
The Chisholm Trail was one of four major trails on which Texas cattle were taken to other states and distributed by train to the more population-dense areas of the United States where demand for meat was high. The Chisholm Trail began as a trade route that Jesse Chisholm marked off on way to sell his sundry goods he would haul by wagons across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. He traded with the native Indians as well was the European settlers who began spreading across middle America in the 1800s.
However, after the Civil War, Texas was in need to expand its trade with other states to generate its economy. With all the wild cattle that had been ranging free during the Civil War, ranchers began herding up the stray beeves and driving them by the thousands northward to where the railroad stations could transport the cows to Eastern markets. The demand for meat was high in the eastern US, and the supply of cattle was abundant in Texas, so large herds of cattle could be driven northward to the train stations at a good profit. The first cattle drives began in 1867 and continued until 1884. By then, barbed wire fences began sectioning off the open prairie lands, plus conflicts with farmers, Indians, and bans on cattle drives due to the threat of tick-born diseases essentially closed off the trails. It was from these cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail that the legendary cowboy became became fixed into the public image we have today.
But when the Chisholm Trail was started and stayed active, hundreds of thousands of cattle were moved in small herds from the coastal areas of Texas toward the large cities of San Antonio, Austin and Waco. The small herds grew to large herds of several thousand cattle by the time it reached the main path of the Chisholm Trail in Waco, TX. The Brazos River could be crossed fairly safely there and the trail drive could head due north until it reached the main railroad terminals in Ellisworth, Abilene, or Dodge City in Kansas. The economics of the 1860s were such that it was cheaper to drive large herds of cattle and pay the cowboys for months of manual labor getting to market than it would be to use a train car to move them from Texas to the Northeast states.
The Chisholm Trail had many small feeder trails all across Texas that fed into the central gathering points of San Antonio, Austin and Waco. From Waco the trail went due north through Texas, all of Oklahoma, and into central Kansas where the trails again began to split off into smaller trails going to various train stations. The main train stations were the cattle ended up were Ellsworth, Abilene, and some times Dodge City.
The face of the marker:
"To those riders who passed this way ... their memories, honored in stone but written in our hearts" is inscribed at the top of the large rectangular gray granite polished stone. In the center is an artistic image of cattle moving forward with a suspension bridge behind them and the date 1876 above the bridge. Arched over the top and under the bottom of the image ion the cattle crossing is large print reading "Going Up The Chisholm Trail."
The apparent title of the work is written below the image stating:
"Across the Brazos at Waco"
below which is the dedication stating:
"Dedicated by the McLennan County Historical Commission October 23, 2010"
The back of the marker:
In the middle of the back of this memorial marker is an image of a cowboy on a horse riding along side a group of cattle. Below this image is text that reads:
"Donated by the Joe H. Phipps Family"
Group that erected the marker: Donated by the Joe H. Phipps Family, but dedicated by the McLennan County Historical Commission October 23, 2010
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
200 S. MLK Jr Blvd
Waco, TX USA
76704
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Visit Instructions:
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