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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, The year 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the |
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Chisholm Trail, the major cattle-drive route from Texas to Kansas |
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that was used from 1867 to 1884; and |
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WHEREAS, In the mid-1800s, Texas was home to millions of |
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longhorn cattle, many of them roaming freely on sparsely populated |
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rangeland; there was a growing demand for beef in other parts of the |
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United States, but Texans lacked an easy means of getting the cattle |
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to market because rail routes between the Lone Star State and the |
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eastern United States had yet to be established; early attempts to |
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drive longhorns to Missouri and Kansas were halted when those |
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states closed their borders to the cattle to prevent transmission |
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of a deadly livestock disease, though the Texas cattle were later |
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allowed to traverse a less-populated part of Kansas; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1867, Illinois entrepreneur Joseph G. McCoy |
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solved the dilemma by persuading the Kansas Pacific Railway to lay a |
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spur to the small town of Abilene, Kansas, where he built a hotel, |
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stockyard, office, and bank; he advertised the availability of the |
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railhead throughout Texas, and O. W. Wheeler and his partners drove |
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the first 2,400 steers to Abilene from San Antonio in 1867, |
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traveling north through Texas and across the Indian Territory that |
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later became the state of Oklahoma; and |
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WHEREAS, Some 35,000 cattle were shipped through Abilene in |
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the first year and the total doubled annually until 1871, reaching a |
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peak of 600,000; the popular route from Texas was originally known |
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by such names as the Kansas Trail, the Abilene Trail, or McCoy's |
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Trail; the name Chisholm Trail was initially used only for the |
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section north of the Red River, but it was soon applied to the |
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entire path from the Rio Grande to Abilene and, later, to other |
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towns in Kansas; and |
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WHEREAS, Typically beginning in the early spring, the cattle |
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drives traveled north along the trail, taking three to four months |
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to reach Kansas; the herds moved at a pace of 10 to 12 miles a day, |
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guided by a crew that was often made up of a dozen or more people, |
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including a trail boss, cowboys, and a chuck wagon cook; a day on |
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the trail could contain the excitement and danger of stampedes and |
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river crossings as well as many hours of hard and dusty work that |
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was a good deal less dramatic; and |
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WHEREAS, The trail ultimately moved more than five million |
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cattle and one million mustangs, playing a crucial role in reviving |
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the Texas economy after the Civil War; the expansion of the |
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railroads, the growing settlement of the Plains, and the |
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establishment of new livestock quarantines brought an end to the |
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cattle drives in the mid-1880s, but during its years of operation, |
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the Chisholm Trail gained a special place in Western lore, and it |
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remains a source of fascination today; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas |
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Legislature hereby commemorate the 150th anniversary of the |
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Chisholm Trail. |