Foot-loose and fancy-free By Angie Debo

Railroads in Missouri and eastern Kansas determined the route of the first northern drives. As the rails were pushed westward in Kansas, however, cattle trails leading to them also were established father west.

The West Shawnee Trail left the Texas Road at Boggy Depot toward the northwest, crossing the Canadian River near the site of Konawa, the North Canadian River near the site of Shawnee, the Cimarron River near the site of present-day Cushing, and continued to the west of the Arkansas, passing near the sites of Pawnee and Ponca City.

Eighty miles west of Colbert’s Ferry the Chisholm Trail crossed the Red River near Ringold, TX and extended north to the Kansas line. This famous route, slightly irregular because of the locations of the best fords, was roughly parallel to the 98^th meridian and to the line followed later by the Rock Island railroad and U.S. Highway 81.

This great artery of the northern drive was named for Jesse Chisholm, the trader. Jesse was son-in-law of the proprietor of Edward’s Post at the mouth of the Little River. The Chisholm Ranch, near the site of Asher, drove cattle nearly one hundred miles to King Fisher’s stagecoach station, where the Texas cattle passed on the way to Kansas. Jesse Chisholm, more interested in trade rather than livestock growing, hauled provisions south from Caldwell, KS to supply the crews on the great cattle drives. The Cherokee Indian trader thus became the best-known person on the trail, and it was natural to designate the route by his name.

The Great Western Trail, crossing the Red River within sight of Doan’s Store, TX ran almost due north to Trail and Cedar Springs, then northwest to the crossing of Beaver Creek and to the Kansas line beyond Sherman Ranch. The Great Western was relatively free of timber, and the Indians were willing to exchange pasturage for beef.

The northern objective was Dodge City, KS, which was called “the cow capital of the world” for a decade. Between 1866 and 1885 about 6,000,000 head of cattle were driven north from Texas to the Kansas railroad lines or to northern ranges in Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, or Montana. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad, completed in 1872, the Santa Fe line completed across Oklahoma lands in 1886, and other lines from Texas to Kansas quickly reduced the cattle drives to local operations.