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 Reference Library
To commemorate the cattle drives that made the American cowboy
a figure of legend, the 400th and final Oklahoma historic marker
was placed on the old Chisholm Trail on Friday, September 19
at Yukon, Oklahoma. The marker site was one mile north of the
North Canadian river, one of the most dangerous crossings on
the Chisholm Trail, on land owned by Robert A. Funk, owner of
Express Ranches and chairman of Express Personnel Services. A re-enactment of a Texas Longhorn cattle drive, featuring about 30 magnificent Longhorn steers provided by TLBAA members John T. Baker of Liberty Hill, TX, and H.C. Carter of Austin, Texas, preceded the unveiling of the Chisholm Trail monument. The trail, named after Jesse Chisholm the part-Cherokee trader who first marked it out, becarne a main route after 1867, when cattle dealer Joseph McCoy of Abilene built stock-yards at a rail spur and invited ranchers to herd their Longhorns north, where they would fetch $30 to $40 a head, 10 times the going price in Texas. The trail led north from the "brasada" or brush country of Texas, from Brownsville through San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and over the Red River through the Indian Territory that is present-day Oklahoma, then into Kansas, through Newton, Wichita and Caidwell, ending in Abilene, roughly paralleling the route of today's North-South Highway 281 in Texas and 81 in Oklahoma and Kansas. The Longhorns had multiplied into the millions while their ranchers fought in the Civil War, and had become so numerous that Texans were glad to see them go. A year before the first cattle drive on the Chisholm trail, cowboys drove a quarter of a million Longhorns by another route to Sedalia and other Missouri towns, but were attacked by farmers as the cattle carried "Texas Fever". The cowboys turned to other trails and between 1867-1889, some 35,000 cowboys drove an estimated six million head to Abilene on the Chisholm Trail. What killed the Chisholm Trail, Klemme said, were homesteaders in the 1890s who quickly built fences and later brought in railroads, which made the ardu-ous drive to Abilene unnecessary. ln addition to the marker at Express Ranches, a monument 3
feet wide by 7-1/2 feet and bearing a two by four foot bronze
plaque was unveiled at the ceremony. The stirring unveiling was
preceded by a celebration hosted by Mr. Funk and attended by
over 800 persons. The morning included wagon rides, authentic
19th century chuck wagons, cow-boys, military, decorations, and
a superb Longhorn lunch. Guest speakers included Mr. Klemme;
Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating; Alvin Davis, president of the
National Cowboy Symposium, Lubbock, Texas; and Hollywood stars
Stuart Whitman and Jane Russell. Oklahoman native Dale Robertson,
former Hollywood movie actor and star of the TV series, "Tales
of Wells Fargo' was a special guest and served as Master of Ceremonies.
In closing, Mr. Robertson noted that it was said of Jesse Chisholm
that he would never let a man leave his place cold or hungry,
and that Mr. Funk had certainly carried on that tradition today.
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