Chisholm Trail Days in Fort Worth's Stockyards

THE LAST CHISHOLM TRAIL ROUNDUP

There's always something going on in Fort Worth's Stockyards. Practically every day Cowboy's drive the Fort Worth Herd past hordes of tourists. Friday and Saturday nights the Stockyards comes alive with packed Saloons, Honkytonks and Restaurants. And several times a year entry to the Stockyards is fenced off while a special event takes place. One example was the annual Chisholm Trail Roundup. The Chisholm Trail Roundup lasted for three days. With a Parade, Chuckwagon Cookoffs, Food Purveyors, people in period attire, other people in contemporary attire, Gunfights, Indian Powwows, Longhorn Riders, Longhorns, Cowboys, Music in multiple Venues, Street Dances, Arts and Crafts and Horses...a Totally Texas spectacle...unfortunately the photos you see here are from the last Chisholm Trail Roundup, in 2001. Post 9/11 an increase in the cost of insuring such an event made it no longer possible.

email from the great-great-great-grandson of Jesse Chisholm

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A sign advertising Chisholm Trails Roundup attached to the side of the outdoor eating zone at Riscky Rita's, a Mexican restaurant with a buffet with an unusual option.

saloon girls at the Chisholm Trails Roundup

Appears some saloon girls are out in daylight to take in the sights of the Roundup. Note the unusual traffic sign

One would think Longhorns were a major transportation device in the Old West as often as you see them carrying people in the Stockyards. The Longhorn under the cowboy in the white hat had such huge horns some spectators thought the horns were fakes!

A little girl and her Longhorn.

Chisholm Trails Roundup little cowboy on a longhorn

This little guy let out a good yeehaw.

Chisholm Trails Roundup big people on longhorns

Full sized people on Longhorns.

An Indian Princess led the procession of Cowgirls on Horses.

Chisholm Trail Roundup spectators walking Exchange Street.

an unseemly use of red, white and blue at the Chisholm Trails Roundup

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Modern cowgirl attire. Is it a violation of Texas law to turn the Lone Star Flag into clothing? Sans undergarment?

hot clothes on a hot day at the Chisholm Trails Roundup

Old-fashioned tasteful cowgirl attire, although it would seem it would be very warm to be dressed like this on such a hot day.

cooler clothes on a hot day at the Chisholm Trails Roundup

This modern day attire seems better suited to hot weather.

The Cowboy Cookout zone. These are the cowboys from the Wild Cow Ranch.

Where is the ASPCA?

at little cowgirl at the Chisholm Trails Roundup

A cute little girl on her cute little horse.

A Dalmatian on top of the Budweiser Clydesdale Wagon.

the Tarantula Train chugging through Stockyards Station

The parade is over, the Longhorns have been cleared from the street. It's time for the Tarantula Train to come out of Stockyard Station to be turned around for its daily trip to Grapevine.

The Chisholm Trail was a route used in the late 19th century in the Western United States for cattle drives, the movement of cattle overland. The trail stretched from southern Texas across the Red River to Abilene, Kansas, and was used to drive cattle northward to the railhead of the Kansas Pacific Railway, where they were shipped eastward.

The trail is named for Jesse Chisholm who had built several trading posts in what is now western Oklahoma before the American Civil War. He never drove cattle on the trail, and he died in 1868.

Today, most historians consider the Chisholm Trail to have started at the Rio Grande or at San Antonio, Texas. From 1867 to 1871, the trail ended in Abilene. Later, Newton, Kansas, and Wichita, Kansas, each served as the end of the trail. From 1883 to 1887, the end of the trail was Caldwell, Kansas.

In Texas, there were hundreds of feeder trails heading north to one of the main cattle trails. In the early 1840s, most cattle was driven up the Shawnee Trail. The trail was previously used by Indian hunting and raiding parties; it went north from Austin through Waco and Fort Worth. The trail crossed into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) near Red River Station (in present-day Montague County, Texas) and entered Kansas near Caldwell. The trail through Oklahoma followed generally the route of US Highway 81.

source: Wikipedia

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