The Shawnee Trail |
The Location,Origin,Benefits,Hardships. |
The Shawnee Trail was the first major route used by the cattle trailing industry to deliver longhorns to the markets of the Midwest. Longhorns were collected around San Antonio, Texas, and taken northward through Austin, Waco, and Dallas, crossing the Red River near Preston, Texas, at Rock Bluff. Here the outcroppings that provide the place name formed a natural chute that forced the cattle together at the ford, and a gradual rise on the north bank made it easy to exit the river. North of the Red River the trail divided for a time, coming together near Boggy Depot in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Here some herds veered sharply eastward to pass through Fort Smith, Arkansas. The main trail led to the Canadian River directly below the confluence of the north and south branches and forded the Arkansas River between the mouths of the Verdigris and Neosho rivers, and followed the Neosho past Fort Gibson almost to the Kansas border. The trail then subdivided into various routes which, depending on the final destination led to one of the following: Baxter Springs, Kansas, and Westport, Kansas City, Sedalia, and St. Louis, Missouri.