July 3, 1930-The old Chisholm Trail has finally been settled as to its authentic route through action taken at Enid June 17, where representatives fro Wichita, Wellington, Caldwell, Medford, Pond creek, Enid, Waukomis, Hennessey, Kingfisher, El Reno, Chickasha, Rush Springs, Marlow, Duncan, Anadarko and Waurika met to settle the question for future generations.
The Enid meeting was held as a result of report from Woodward, Elk City, and other Oklahoma towns in that part of the state, that a north and south highway through the western part of the state along the alleged route of the Chisholm Trail was about to be established.
As soon as the old-times heard of the Chisholm trail controversy, a furor of discussion and exasperations filled their hearts as they reflected back to the many times they had driven over the old cattle stage trail from Wichita.
J. W. Wright, 86-year-old Kingfisher citizen, remembers well the old trail of Wichita, south through southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma as far as E. Reno. In 1875, Wright, with two other wagon drivers, drove out of Wichita with three wagon loads of corn for the government fort near what is now El Reno, known at that time as the Cheyenne agency.
As the Kingfisher resident tells it, the authentic Chisholm Trail started from Wichita south to Belle Plain, Wellington, Caldwell, and to Pond Creek, a place sought of Caldwell, as it was known then. The present city of Pond Creek was not on the Chisholm Trail. At this place was a stage station, after the old cattle trail had become more popular with southwestern travelers and traders.
The next stage station was near Medford, with the next one at north Skeleton creek, a short distance north of Enid, at the old Bill Gilleriste farm.
After the Skeleton creek station came the Buffalo Springs stop, two miles south of Bison. It is claimed that this stop was located at the present site of Bison, but Wright maintains that it was two miles south of that place. No station was located at the present site of Enid, and at that time there was just a big mud hoe there, that travelers avoided. South of Buffalo Springs, Pat Hennessey, and two other team drivers lost their lives by an Indian attack. Wright discredits the story that outlaws killed the Hennessey party.
Wright claims Hennessey and his two friends were buried at Buffalo Springs. The Indians, who wanted the freight they were hauling, attacked them.
Little Turkey creek, three miles south of Hennessey was the next stage station. Hennessey was killed in 1874, as Wright states, which was the year before the Kingfisher man made the trip. The wreck of the massacred man's outfit was views by Wright in 1875.
Kingfisher was the next stage station. It was located on the south side of the creek, not on the north, as some people claim. From Kingfisher the stage line went to the Cheyenne agency at El Reno. The station was located next to the present Concho Indian School.
From El Reno, Wright and his two fellow drivers, returned to Wichita with they empty wagons. It took three weeks to make the round trip, and the drivers got $6 in money for the trip. Their provisions and driving expenses were furnished.
During the cattle days, the trail was anywhere between Kingfisher and Guthrie. It is estimated that in 1867, just after the Civil War, 35,000 head of longhorns were driven over the trail to Abilene, Kans., where they were loaded aboard cares to be shipped to Chicago. Abilene at that time, was the western terminus of the railroad. More than twice as many cattle went over the trail the next year and it is estimated 300,000 head were shipped in 1870.
The trail as outlined by Wright corresponds very closely to that which was settled upon last week at Enid. The Woodward trail was authentically set as the "Teas Cattle Trail," which was another north and south course in the olden days.
All present at the meeting were anxious that the Chisholm Trail, wherever it passed or corresponded to the state highway 81, be sufficiently marked and labeled.
The Chisholm Trail was blazed in 1865 when Jesse Chisholm, half-breed Indian trader, started south from the mouth of the Little Arkansas River, (the present site of Wichita) with James R. Reed, another trader. Chisholm followed the same route traveled by Colonel Emory and his federal troops in their trip into the Indian Territory in 1861. Chisholm and Reed were enroute to the Canadian and Washita River valleys to trade with the Indians. Other travelers followed the trail, and later it became a cattle route to the Kansas railroads.
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