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Nancy and Ted Paup Ranching Heritage Series
The Old Chisholm Trail: From Cow Path to Tourist Stop
The Old Chisholm Trail charts the evolution of the major Texas cattle trails, explores the rise of the Chisholm Trail in legend and lore, and analyzes the role of cattle trail tourism long after the end of the trail driving era itself. The result of years of original and innovative research—often using documents and sources unavailable to previous generations of historians—Wayne Ludwig’s groundbreaking study offers a new and nuanced look at an important but short-lived era in the history of the American West.
Controversy over the name and route of the Chisholm Trail has persisted since before the dust had even settled on the old cattle trails. But the popularity of late nineteenth-century Wild West shows, dime novels, and twentieth-century radio, movie, and television western drama propelled the already bygone era of the cattle trail into myth—and a lucrative one at that.
Ludwig correlates the rise of automobile tourism with an explosion of interest in the Chisholm Trail. Community leaders were keenly aware of the potential economic impact if tourists were induced to visit their town rather than another, and the Chisholm Trail was often just the hook needed. Numerous “historical” markers were erected on little more than hearsay or boosterish memory, and as a result, the true history of the Chisholm Trail has been overshadowed. The Old Chisholm Trail is the first comprehensive examination of the Chisholm Trail since Wayne Gard’s 1954 classic study, The Chisholm Trail, and makes an important—and modern—contribution to the history of the American West.
Winner, 2018 Elmer Kelton Book of the Year, sponsored by the Academy of Western Artists
Controversy over the name and route of the Chisholm Trail has persisted since before the dust had even settled on the old cattle trails. But the popularity of late nineteenth-century Wild West shows, dime novels, and twentieth-century radio, movie, and television western drama propelled the already bygone era of the cattle trail into myth—and a lucrative one at that.
Ludwig correlates the rise of automobile tourism with an explosion of interest in the Chisholm Trail. Community leaders were keenly aware of the potential economic impact if tourists were induced to visit their town rather than another, and the Chisholm Trail was often just the hook needed. Numerous “historical” markers were erected on little more than hearsay or boosterish memory, and as a result, the true history of the Chisholm Trail has been overshadowed. The Old Chisholm Trail is the first comprehensive examination of the Chisholm Trail since Wayne Gard’s 1954 classic study, The Chisholm Trail, and makes an important—and modern—contribution to the history of the American West.
Winner, 2018 Elmer Kelton Book of the Year, sponsored by the Academy of Western Artists
368 pages, Hardcover
Published September 4, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 3, 2019
This is an absolutely fascinating, meticulously researched story of the old Chisholm trail that I highly recommend to anyone who's interested in the truth behind the legend. Wayne Ludwig debunks many of the things I thought I knew about the famous Texas cattle drives, replacing those myths with carefully researched and documented facts. While this could have been a dry history book, Ludwig's engaging style makes it almost as readable as fiction and many times more valuable.
If you have any interest in nineteenth cattle drives, The Old Chisholm Trail should be on your "must read" list.
If you have any interest in nineteenth cattle drives, The Old Chisholm Trail should be on your "must read" list.
May 1, 2021
I realize I'm going to sound like a real history geek here, but I love the way the author organized this book. He has several chapters giving background on a topic affecting the main topic of the book, The Chisholm Trail. So he has a chapter on the ancestry of the Texas Longhorn Cattle and he has another chapter about the Spanish or Texas Fever that resulted in the Quarantine Laws that were established primarily to protect the Missouri and Kansas cattle from infection from the Texas cattle. He then has a chapter explaining how the growth of the railway system west lead to the establishment of railheads and boom towns which would have a few boom years. But then the railway would grow further west, a new railhead would be established, and the old boom town left to wither. In turn, this caused the cattle trails to skew further west as well.
This set up was fantastic. By the time he gets into the whole controversy surrounding the name of the Chisholm Trail and where it was located and where it was NOT located, you have all the information you need to understand.
And who KNEW there was so much DRAMA over a name. Wow, that P. P. Ackley was a piece of work.
This was an informative book and if sometimes he was a tad redundant or if sometimes I found the geographical details a bit much, I could forgive the author in his quest for documentation and accuracy. He's fighting the good fight.
This set up was fantastic. By the time he gets into the whole controversy surrounding the name of the Chisholm Trail and where it was located and where it was NOT located, you have all the information you need to understand.
And who KNEW there was so much DRAMA over a name. Wow, that P. P. Ackley was a piece of work.
This was an informative book and if sometimes he was a tad redundant or if sometimes I found the geographical details a bit much, I could forgive the author in his quest for documentation and accuracy. He's fighting the good fight.
January 29, 2021
Another work read! Some of this was absolutely fascinating--particularly the origins of the famous Texas Longhorns, and how the pandemic of the late 1800s affected the cattle trade. I really appreciated how meticulous the author was in regards to his research.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews