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Texas cowmen name Chisholm Trail after trader

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Written by Jim Dawson Wednesday, 07 December 2005

Map of the Chisholm Trail from Brownsville TX to Abilene, KS

In its time, the cattle drives of the Chisholm Trail passed right through Round Rock and was considered one of the wonders of the western world.

The trail acquired its name from trader Jesse Chisholm, who in 1864 began hauling trade goods to Indian camps south of his post near present day Wichita, Kansas. Though the route applied only to the trail north of the Red River, Texas cowmen soon gave Chisholm’s name to the entire trail from the Rio Grande to central Kansas.

While Texas cattlemen were away fighting the Civil War, the cattle multiplied. By 1866, the cattle were worth only $4 a head in Texas, but as much as $40 in the North and East.

In 1867, Joseph McCoy built stockyards on the new railroad lines in Abilene, Kansas. He sent men south to encourage Texas cattlemen to send herds to his stockyards. He also encouraged buyers to come to Abilene where cattle would be waiting.

On the trail the cattle slowly ate their way northward. The herds moved through the Round Rock area on their way to northern markets crossing the Brushy Creek at the low water crossing marked by the round rock in the center of the creek.

The number of cattle in each drive varied from several hundred up to 10,000 and, depending on the size of the herd, took either a couple of hours or several days to pass through town. Round Rock citizens, especially children, often gathered to watch the herds cross Brushy Creek.

The trail drives came to an end around 1880 due to several factors: the invention of barbed wire, the proximity of the railroads, and the outbreak of Texas fever, a disease that resulted in a quarantine of Texas cattle from entering other states.