The following story was in the Wichita Kansas paper yesterday. Caldwell is our hometown and the catttle drive will come down our main street tomorrow afternoon. School is getting out early so the kids can all see it. About noon today the cattle came through near our house about 8 miles 
south of Caldwell (the Kansas border) and Brad & I went to see it as they were moving across some land that we farm. Hope you enjoy the article and the following pics I took this morning. I'll take more tomorrow and post then later..
*******************************************
south of Caldwell (the Kansas border) and Brad & I went to see it as they were moving across some land that we farm. Hope you enjoy the article and the following pics I took this morning. I'll take more tomorrow and post then later..
*******************************************CALDWELL - Early Friday afternoon, a team of cowboys will drive 450 bawling cattle, including 120 longhorns, down the main drag in this once-wild Kansas cowtown known as the "Border Queen."
And just as it did regularly from 1880 to 1886, the town will welcome the tired, dusty drovers with music, food and drink, and dancing saloon girls at the "End of the Trail."
This time, the cattle will be loaded into trailers instead of rail cars and the shoot-outs that erupt will be re-enactments as Caldwell helps celebrate the centennial of Oklahoma statehood and the 140th anniversary of the opening of the Chisholm Trail.
"Caldwell was a jumping-off point for the last great land rush in 1893 and today we have residents who work in Oklahoma as well as people who live in Oklahoma and work here," said Karen Sturm, tourism director for the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce and chairwoman of the cattle drive event. "Many of our farmers have land in both states."
In the cowtown heyday that the drive celebrates, Caldwell was one of the wildest and most violent of Wild West towns.
Thanks to its position on the Chisholm Trail, it was a trail stop from its founding in 1871 through the whole cowtown era until 1886. From 1883 to 1886, it was the southern end of the railroad as well.
Because of its location just north of the Oklahoma state line -- then Indian Territory -- Caldwell's saloons, gambling halls and brothels offered cowboys their "First Chance" for alcohol and entertainment on their way north to Abilene, Newton and Wichita. On the way back to Texas, it was the "Last Chance" before entering Indian Territory.
Gunfights, showdowns and hangings were common. From 1879 to 1885, 18 city marshals were murdered.
This weekend's events will start on Thursday night when 31 cowboys from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas will set up camp in downtown Caldwell, 62 miles southwest of Wichita.
On Friday, Caldwell's local re-enactors in period costume will perform "Talking Tombstones," recounting the stories of some of the town's most famous characters at the town cemetery. The "Border Queen Revue," a historical dance troupe will perform a lunch show at the newly restored Opera House on Main Street; the Medicine River Boys Band will play in the downtown gazebo; cowboys will stage a quick-draw competition; and all-you-can-eat barbecue will be served up ahead of an end-of-the-trail celebration dance.
On Saturday, cowboys from the encampment will re-enact the famous Talbot Gang Shootout of Dec. 18, 1881, one of the longest gun battles in western history. A scuffle started on the night of Dec. 17 when Jim Talbot and members of his gang created a disturbance at an Opera House performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and continued into the afternoon of the next day when the gun battle broke out.
The shooting spanned nearly two hours, during which the proprietor of the local hardware store handed out guns and ammunition to residents who wanted to join the fray. When the bullets stopped, the battle had claimed the life of Mike Meagher, a former marshal of both Wichita and Caldwell.
The cattle that will arrive Friday have been on the trail since Sept. 10, from the Texas state line through Oklahoma on the Chisholm Trail, the same route that more than 5 million Texas cattle and a million mustangs traveled more than 100 years ago.
History buffs in Kansas and Oklahoma have been working for almost seven years to get the Chisholm Trail named a National Historic Trail.
"If any trail ever deserved to be a national historic trail, it is the Chisholm," said Bob Klemme, who spent seven years marking the trail through Oklahoma.
And just as it did regularly from 1880 to 1886, the town will welcome the tired, dusty drovers with music, food and drink, and dancing saloon girls at the "End of the Trail."
This time, the cattle will be loaded into trailers instead of rail cars and the shoot-outs that erupt will be re-enactments as Caldwell helps celebrate the centennial of Oklahoma statehood and the 140th anniversary of the opening of the Chisholm Trail.
"Caldwell was a jumping-off point for the last great land rush in 1893 and today we have residents who work in Oklahoma as well as people who live in Oklahoma and work here," said Karen Sturm, tourism director for the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce and chairwoman of the cattle drive event. "Many of our farmers have land in both states."
In the cowtown heyday that the drive celebrates, Caldwell was one of the wildest and most violent of Wild West towns.
Thanks to its position on the Chisholm Trail, it was a trail stop from its founding in 1871 through the whole cowtown era until 1886. From 1883 to 1886, it was the southern end of the railroad as well.
Because of its location just north of the Oklahoma state line -- then Indian Territory -- Caldwell's saloons, gambling halls and brothels offered cowboys their "First Chance" for alcohol and entertainment on their way north to Abilene, Newton and Wichita. On the way back to Texas, it was the "Last Chance" before entering Indian Territory.
Gunfights, showdowns and hangings were common. From 1879 to 1885, 18 city marshals were murdered.
This weekend's events will start on Thursday night when 31 cowboys from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas will set up camp in downtown Caldwell, 62 miles southwest of Wichita.
On Friday, Caldwell's local re-enactors in period costume will perform "Talking Tombstones," recounting the stories of some of the town's most famous characters at the town cemetery. The "Border Queen Revue," a historical dance troupe will perform a lunch show at the newly restored Opera House on Main Street; the Medicine River Boys Band will play in the downtown gazebo; cowboys will stage a quick-draw competition; and all-you-can-eat barbecue will be served up ahead of an end-of-the-trail celebration dance.
On Saturday, cowboys from the encampment will re-enact the famous Talbot Gang Shootout of Dec. 18, 1881, one of the longest gun battles in western history. A scuffle started on the night of Dec. 17 when Jim Talbot and members of his gang created a disturbance at an Opera House performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and continued into the afternoon of the next day when the gun battle broke out.
The shooting spanned nearly two hours, during which the proprietor of the local hardware store handed out guns and ammunition to residents who wanted to join the fray. When the bullets stopped, the battle had claimed the life of Mike Meagher, a former marshal of both Wichita and Caldwell.
The cattle that will arrive Friday have been on the trail since Sept. 10, from the Texas state line through Oklahoma on the Chisholm Trail, the same route that more than 5 million Texas cattle and a million mustangs traveled more than 100 years ago.
History buffs in Kansas and Oklahoma have been working for almost seven years to get the Chisholm Trail named a National Historic Trail.
"If any trail ever deserved to be a national historic trail, it is the Chisholm," said Bob Klemme, who spent seven years marking the trail through Oklahoma.
No comments:
Post a Comment