Following the Great Western Trail
If we want our steaks, chili, and smoked briskets, we've got to take cattle to the slaughter house somehow.
Today, we let truck drivers do it, and try not to think about poor Bessie as we bite into a warm, moist
cheeseburger.

Cattle didn't always get to market in a ventilated trailer, however. They used to walk there themselves, and
their hooves carved deep scars along trails that stretched for thousands of miles. The Great Western Trail, an
offshoot of the Chisholm Trail, was one of these roads.  

The Great Western Trail, blazed by rancher and trail driver John Lytle, was the last great northern cattle trail.
Running from Kerrville to Dodge City and points northward, it had many functions in its relatively brief lifespan
(ca. 1875-1885, give or take a few years). Trail outfits could take cattle to sell to the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache,
and Cheyenne reservations in western Oklahoma Territory;  cattle could be shipped to the processing plants in
Kansas City after boarding in Dodge City; or the longhorn could be taken all the way to the Dakotas in order to
stock the new ranching empires.

Cowboys who took to the trail tended to call it the Chisholm Trail - just about every single trail they rode on in
Texas they called the Chisholm Trail - but the Great Western was actually quite distinctive. The terrain was
decidedly more rugged and  parched, and formidable barriers, such as  the canyons in Texas, the Wichita
mountains in Oklahoma Territory, and the Great Basin in Kansas, made the trail drivers really earn their keep.

This territory was also the last domain of the southern buffalo herds. Histories from Plains Indians tell how the
cattle chased  the buffalo off their traditional lands,

As railroads started to venture into Texas, barbed wire became all the rage on the range, Texas fever caused
stricter quarantine laws, and the taste for  longhorn ebbed, the Great Western Trail succumbed fairly quickly to
the wiles of progress. Today, it's a little known trail save for its importance in the history of Dodge City. It can
be followed, though, with a good map and a small guide, which I've laid out here!
The Cimmarron River crossing in Kansas, close to the Oklahoma border. The
landscape is surreal in this part of the world. The colors of the brush and scrub help to
really make the sky "pop" - a real natural sonnet!
Dry conditions near Doan's, at the old
trail crossing along the Red River.
Doan's adobe store near the Red River Crossing. Built in the 1880s,
this little building has seen a lot of activity, including millions of
heads of cattle, visits by Santata, Quanah Parker, and an English
Lord, and hundreds of cowboys.
The deep, icy waters of St. Jacob's well inside the Big Basin has quenched the thirst of man and beast alike
for thousands of years. At times, this would have been the only water source for miles along the trail.
Cattle would bed alongside the Boggy Creek
in Fargo, Oklahoma. Fargo sits along OK 15
south of Fort Supply.
This old hotel in Dodge City has been
replicated in the open air museum/ gift shop
that replaced the actual old town. Urban
renewal hit Dodge City very, very hard.
Dodge City duplication project.
Along the trail, bad guys and girls could sober up and promise to never, ever, ever be bad again inside these little
calabooses: on the left, Fort Griffin Flat's  (TX) calaboose; on the right, Leedey's (Ok) little prison has a toilet inside.
Notice the door to nowhere in this hotel in Dodge City!
Blacksmith shop, Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.
Guardhouse at Fort Supply. Located inside a
former state mental-health-facility
-turned-prison, Fort Supply took in the
remains of Black Kettle's band of Cheynnes
after he was killed by George Custer during a
decisive battle in what is today the Black
Kettle National Grasslands.
Western Trail Places!

Texas
Fort Griffin Flat - Now a ghost town, it's where
the bad elements that hung around military
forts lightened the wallets of cowboys.

Doans - Only the old adobe store remains
from this important river crossing town.

Oklahoma
Fort Sill - Though not on the trail, it's worth a
stop for the many illustrious folks buried in the
post cemetery. Fort Sill is the only Indian War
fort still active.

Fort Supply - Great Western trail drivers sold
cattle to Cheynnes and Arapahos here. The
fort is now inside of a prison! Fun, fun, fun.
Make sure to lock your car.

Kansas
Big Basin - You'll cross over the most
haunting landscape I've ever seen - the Big
Basin. A natural sink hole in the middle of flat
prairie, the basin is wind swept, treeless, and
unbelievably harsh.

Dodge City - Unfortunately, the authentic parts
of Dodge City's western past were razed to
make way for broader streets and more
parking (for tourists - oh, the irony!)  The old
train depot on Front Street houses the tourist
office, with walking tours and maps.
The trail in Texas is easy to
follow:

From Brady (the heart of
Texas!) follow US 283 all the
way to Doans.
Kansas' roads are straight as
arrows.

1) Follow the OK county road
all the way to Ashland.
2) Go west on US 160
3) Take US 283 north to
Dodge City.
Things get tricky in Oklahoma.

1) Follow US 283 north to OK 6.
2) Take OK 6 north to Canute.
3) Take OK 34 north to US 64.
4) Take N 1830 RD north to
Kansas.
Take a road trip up
the Great Western
Trail (and the
Shawnee and
Chisholm Trails) in
my new book,
Traveling History Up
the Cattle Trails!