An Early Road used by
a LOT of Critters

All in all, it's one road, but with a lot of names - the descriptions
depended on who and where one was. This one road served
pioneers, stage coach lines (the Butterfield Overland being the
most famous), soldiers, Native Americans, and, of course, cattle. So
I'm going to call it the Shawnee Trail, since I'm going to tell you
about the cattle drives.

The Shawnee Trail formed out of older Indian paths and military
roads that linked forts from Kansas Territory to Texas. In Texas, this
trail was called "Preston Road," as its official survey from 1843
began at Preston Point on the Red River, then terminated south at
Cedar Springs (now an intersection in downtown Dallas). In Indian
Territory (today's Oklahoma), the Shawnee Trail was known as the
"Texas Trail," as those who took it invariably were either going to,
or leaving, Texas.

Before the railroads crossed west of the Mississippi River, Texas
cattle were usually driven east to New Orleans through heavy
timber and thick underbrush. But when the Pacific Railroad (later
acquired by the KATY) terminated in Sedalia, Missouri, drovers
found it easier to take their cattle north. Using the rails, live cattle
could then be shipped to slaughter houses in St. Louis and Chicago
much quicker than when traveling by steam ship.

Texas cattlemen used this road from the late 1840s until a few years
after the Civil War. Their drives started in south Texas, wound their
way through Austin and Waco, and crossed the Trinity River near
Cedar Springs. The trail then went up to Rocky Point on the Red
River, where cattle crossed into Indian Territory.
The Shawnee Trail took cattle to
their doom from south Texas all the
way to Missouri. The trail that is
marked on this map shows the route
that the Missouri-Kansas-Texas
Railroad ended up paralleling. (This
distorted map courtesy of your author, Robin)
Most cattle trails are quite famous. You've got your Chisholm and Great Western and Goodnight-Loving Trails, all
permanently linked in our minds with fabled images of cowboys, horses, chuck wagons,  and, of course, hundreds upon
hundreds of cows. However, there's one cattle drive that has been relatively forgotten, compared to its sisters.
Considering this trail's history, it's quite a shame that this trail is not as prominent. Well, that's about to change! Let me
introduce you green-horns to the Southwest's eastern-most, earliest south-north trail,  the one and only:

Shawnee Trail or Preston Road or Texas Trail or Military Road or Emigrant Trail.
In Indian Territory, the trail first entered the Choctaw
Nation. It skirted east of Fort Washita and into Boggy
Depot, where the drovers bought, traded, or sold more
cattle. The tribe demanded payment from the cowboys
for the use of their lands, which irked a lot of the Texans.
In more than one first-hand account, drovers would
whine about the "usury" found in the Cross Timbered
prairies. After the Civil War, the tracks of the
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway (KATY for short)
paralleled this old road.

The trail kept going near Fort Gibson in the Cherokee
Nation, then ran almost straight north into Baxter
Springs, Kansas Territory. This small town at the
southeastern corner of Indian Territory, Missouri, and
Kansas Territory became the first true "cow town," with
all the vice and excitement that the title implies: the
many brothels, saloons, heavy drinking, and bloody
fighting gave Baxter Springs quite a reputation. Baxter
Springs' troubles didn't start with the cattle drives,
though - the whole area became a heated battle ground
between abolitionists, who wanted Kansas to enter the
Union as a free state, and pro-slavery factions, who
wanted Kansas to become another slave state. During
the civil war, Quantrill's guerilla forces ambushed union
troops at nearby Fort Blair, leaving over 100 dead - yet
another reminder of this harsh area.

The Shawnee Trail crossed Missouri to Sedalia, but its
time as a cow town was shortlived. During the Civil War,
drives ceased due to the violent unrest; after the war,
most drovers brought their cattle to St. Joseph,
Missouri, where the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
terminated. Within a few years, the cattle drives on the
Shawnee Trail halted altogether - Illinois cattle trader
Joseph McCoy had surveyed a far-less populated route
to the west, which he named the Chisholm Trail. Cowboys
abandoned the Shawnee Trail and routed their cattle
instead through Wichita to Abilene, Kansas.
While certainly the most historically interesting, the Shawnee Trail is not the best preserved. Local historians
throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri are attempting to mark the Shawnee Trail like the Chisholm and Great
Western, and are even trying to get the road registred as a National Trail, but that's slow in coming. Keeping its history
in the forefront is important, though, because not only is the Shawnee Trail a vivid reminder of conflict and prosperity
in the mid-19th century, it's also a true link to westward migration. This is one road that has history written all over it!
Frisco, a suburb just north of Dallas, sits on
Old Preston Road. Its Heritage Museum
displays an exhibit on the Shawnee Trail.
Nothing much remains of old Preston, a trading
post and trail crossing point that was drowned
by Lake Texoma.
Dorchester, on Old Preston Road/ Shawnee
Trail in Texas, has seen better days.
The Texas Trail/ Military Road/ Shawnee Trail in Oklahoma
can still be discerned near Boggy Depot.
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas
Railroad, or MKT (KATY in Texas),
has a storied past that greatly
reflects Red River History.
Chartered in 1870, it acquired the
route from Sedalia to the vicinity of
Baxter Springs. Then, the company
won a competition to be the first
railroad to build through Indian
Territory, today's Oklahoma. When
it arrived in Texas, the KATY built
the terminus town of Denison. Its
entry into Texas marked the state's
first north/south rail connection.
The KATY eventually crossed most
of the near Southwest. In 1988,
after a series of receiverships and
mergers, the MKT / KATY was
bought out by Union Pacific.
Many parts of Fort Gibson in Oklahoma were re-created by
the WPA, such as this mail room. The old post hospital (right)
still stands.
The wagon ruts on the Military Road that ran through
the grounds of Fort Washita can still be made out.
Cattle drivers on the Shawnee Trail drove east of
the fort, as their cattle were not welcomed inside the
post. The Military Road was initially surveyed by
explorer Captain Randolph B. Marcy, who laid it out
as the famous "Gold Road" that took Gold Rushers
to California in the late 1840s.
The original barns for the Pony Express (1858-1861) in
St. Joseph, Missouri, have been converted into a fun,
educational, and interactive museum.