The Western Trail and Its Drivers

The Western Trail was the main route over which Texas longhorns were shipped to railheads like Abilene, Dodge City, and elsewhere in the American West in the 1870s. The massive herds were driven by contract “drivers” who, for a fee, herded cattle on the frontier for ranchers and cattle buyers. Until railroad connections with northern and eastern markets made it unnecessary, the trail was the principal means of getting Texas cattle to market.

The trail was popularly known as the Chisholm Trail and was the setting for dozens of Western genre movies, including The Texans (1938) starring Randolph Scott and Red River (1948), starring John Wayne. But the storied trail was more than just a means of transporting cows; it was a way of life for the tens of thousands of men, women, and children who accompanied the herds as wranglers, drivers, stockmen, and other workers.

Many of these “cowboys” grew up on ranches in the Texas Panhandle where they learned to herd, train, and ride horses. Some had fought in the Civil War, some were former Confederates, and others were freedmen or migrants from Mexico. These were people at loose ends who were willing to risk their lives for a paycheck.

In addition to herding cows, the drivers had to handle a wide variety of tasks to maintain the herd and the trail, from navigating rough terrain to building fences to caring for livestock during storms. They also had to know how to use the various buildings along the trail, such as chuck wagons and corrals. The cowboys were also responsible for securing food and supplies for the trail, and they earned pay according to their level of performance.

A well-trained, obedient cowboy was indispensable to the drivers, and the Western Trail was home to some of the best. The cowboys themselves hailed from all walks of life, but they were united by their dedication to the rigors of the trail and their devotion to a code of ethics and principles that they believed in, even though it was often illegal or immoral.

Mahoney and Bearden were intrigued. They had a conversation about herding and the Western Trail, and they decided to try to mark the entire trail. They began to field inquiries from across the country, and the interest kept growing.

Rotary clubs, such as Vernon’s, became involved in the project. Dave Mason, a native of Chile and fluent in Spanish, reached out to the Matamoros Professional Rotary Club in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, at the south end of the trail. The club secured permission to put a marker at the Museo del Agrarismo Mexicano in that town, where the trail entered into Mexico.

Today, visitors can still experience the Western Trail in Arizona from its southern terminus at Jacob Lake to the North Kaibab Plateau and onward to the Mogollon Rim and world-renowned red sandstone sculptures in Sedona, then north through Orderville Canyon, past the North and South Fork of the Verde Valley, toward Jerome, Parks, and Williams on I-40. The trail then winds through the ponderosa pine forests of the Williams Ranger District and into the Kaibab National Forest.