From I'd Rather Sleep in Texas
Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson
James A. McAllen
Margaret H. McAllen
The route leading to the Chisholm Trail through South Texas began on the Rio Grande at Brownsville. (Plaque of trail at Hope Park, in Brownsville.)
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Ranchers and speculators often gathered together a herd and struck out north. It was not unheard of for drovers to buy or sometimes steal cattle in Mexico and swim them across the border to begin the drive.
The trial lead past Miflin Kennedy's and Richard King's ranches, through Beeville, Gonzales, and Lockhart to Austin or San Antonio. By the time the cattle from southern Texas reached Ft. Worth, many other herds had turned into the trail, with their own crews of drovers, vaqueros, cooks, horse wranglers, and trail boss.
As the cattle moved through Indian Territory to Kansas, the herds were a sea of animals, men, and wagons that would stretch for miles. Eventually the cattle drives were glamorized in newspapers, but the accounts did not always depict the hardships and dangers of the long trail and the monotonous and dusty days.
Some of the rivers and creeks had easy crossing for the herds, but floods or quicksand made crossing a few of the larger ones, such as the Red River, perilous, and caused delays, accidents, and loss of stock.
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Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson
James A. McAllen
Margaret H. McAllen
The route leading to the Chisholm Trail through South Texas began on the Rio Grande at Brownsville. (Plaque of trail at Hope Park, in Brownsville.)
Ranchers and speculators often gathered together a herd and struck out north. It was not unheard of for drovers to buy or sometimes steal cattle in Mexico and swim them across the border to begin the drive.
The trial lead past Miflin Kennedy's and Richard King's ranches, through Beeville, Gonzales, and Lockhart to Austin or San Antonio. By the time the cattle from southern Texas reached Ft. Worth, many other herds had turned into the trail, with their own crews of drovers, vaqueros, cooks, horse wranglers, and trail boss.
As the cattle moved through Indian Territory to Kansas, the herds were a sea of animals, men, and wagons that would stretch for miles. Eventually the cattle drives were glamorized in newspapers, but the accounts did not always depict the hardships and dangers of the long trail and the monotonous and dusty days.
Some of the rivers and creeks had easy crossing for the herds, but floods or quicksand made crossing a few of the larger ones, such as the Red River, perilous, and caused delays, accidents, and loss of stock.
