The Chisholm Trail and its Feeder Trails - Bowie, TX
N 33° 32.839 W 097° 49.929
14S E 608420 N 3712576
A sign at the World's Largest Bowie Knife in Bowie, TX notes the passage of the legendary Chisholm Trail through here and into various parts of Montague County, providing a little background.
Waymark Code: WM128YR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2020
Views: 0
The sign stands on the north side of the knife, and it has a drawing of a couple of wranglers tending their cattle along the Chisholm Trail, which passed right through this area. On the opposite side of the knife from this sign is a complementary sign, "Montague County Trails Prior to 1880", which notes the passage through the county of significant trails like the Chisholm Trail, the California Trail, and the Butterfield Stage Line. Of the settlements noted, Burlington (Spanish Fort) and Salt Creek Station (Red River Station) are but ghosts today, and Head of Elm became St. Jo.
This sign reads:
After the Civil War, the need for money in Texas and the need for beef in the North led to the development of the great cattle trails. Montague County was the last county in Texas crossed by the herds before entering Indian Territory on the way to railheads in Kansas or onto trails headed further north or west.
The first herds crossed through Red River Station in about 1866, and the last herd around 1884. The trail was made obsolete with the coming of the railroads to North Texas and the fencing off of private lands with barbed wire, ending free grazing forever. It is estimated that over five million head of Texas cattle and a million mustangs reached Kansas by way of the Chisholm Trail. During the Trail's heyday, the only towns in existence in Montague County were Head of Elm (Saint Jo), Salt Creek Station (Red River Station), Burlington (Spanish Fort), Forestburg, and Montague.
Group that erected the marker: City of Bowie
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:
1500-1700 Block of East Wise St
Bowie, TX USA
76230
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