Caldwell And The Chisholm Trail
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 00.453 W 097° 36.403
14S E 623959 N 4096617
A mile south of this point the Chisholm Trail entered Kansas.
Waymark Code: WM986C
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 07/12/2010
Views: 9
Marker Erected by: Kansas Historical Society and State Highway Commission
County Of Marker: Sumner County
Location of Marker: US-81, roadside park, 1 mile south of Caldwell
Marker Text:
A mile southeast of this marker the Chisholm trail entered Kansas. It took its name from Jesse Chisholm, Indian trader, whose route lay between the North Canadian river and present Wichita. In 1867 it was extended from the Red river to Abilene when the building of the Union Pacific gave Texas cattle an Eastern market. Over this long trail more than a million head were driven before the Santa Fe built south and brought the drives to Newton, 1871, and the next year to Wichita. Incoming settlers in Kansas soon fenced off the land and by 1876 drovers had abandoned the trail. In 1880, however, the railroad built to Caldwell, one-mile north, and drives were resumed. It is estimated that two million longhorns were driven across the prairie here on a road that in many places was a quarter of a mile wide and as bare as a modern highway.