OklahomaHorses Magazine March 2022

12 OklahomaHorses • March/April 2022 PART TWO OF A THREE-PART SERIES Oklahoma’s Cattle Trails Leave Legacy Cowboys Carve Routes North by Jason Harris, Ph.D. Executive Director, Chisholm Trail Museum, Kingfisher, Oklahoma Photographs courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society I n Part Two of a three-part series, we will explore Oklahoma’s cattle trails. Before the Civil War, Texas cattle first made their way north toward the market in Saint Louis, Missouri, along the Shawnee Trail to reach better markets. Edward Piper was credited with having driven the first large herd up the Shawnee Trail when he moved 1,000 longhorns north to Ohio through Indian Territory in 1846. He was just one of many people to move cattle along the trail. The Shawnee Trail and Texas Fever The Shawnee Trail led drovers to several destinations, including Sedalia and Westport, Missouri, and Kansas City and Baxter Springs, Kansas. Sometimes starting in far south Texas, small herds made their way north through Austin and Waco before crossing the Red River near Preston, Texas. Once in Indian Territory, they followed the Texas Road through the Choctaw Nation and passed near Fort Gibson in the Cherokee Na- tion before entering Kansas and turning east. This route remained popular throughout the 1840s and 1850s until the disease called Texas fever prompted opposition by Missouri farmers. In June 1853, Missouri farmers halted a herd of about 3,000 head of cattle going to the market and forced them to turn back. Texas fever, spread by ticks, was nearly always fatal and killed cattle quickly, leading to vigorous protests by Missouri farmers. The fever decimat- ed cattle populations in the Midwest, but Texas cattle developed a natural immunity because of exposure, despite being carriers. Although Texas longhorns appeared to be immune, local cattle quickly fell ill when mixing with the longhorns or grazing on pastures recently visited by passing herds. By 1855, Missourians began to stop the herds and force them to turn around. Vigilance committees killed any Texas cattle that did not return to Indian Territory. By December of that year, a new law banned diseased cattle from Left: This map of part of Indian Territory shows the location of the ChisholmTrail.