Old Cattle Trail

The bronze's legend has the scout Billy Comstock killed here by Indians who left him unscalped in tribute. The record puts his death in Kansas in August 1868, after he and Abner Grover left a Cheyenne camp they had been sent from Fort Wallace to visit. Buffalo Bill Cody's autobiography places the killing near Big Spring Station in western Kansas and says Comstock was scalped and robbed; this county's own Big Springs may have carried the story across the line. Men at Fort Wallace came to suspect Grover, who turned up with Comstock's saddle, pistol and ranch.

What the plaque says

This tablet is the property of the State of Colorado Old Cattle Trail The Texas-Montana, Bacon and Potter, and J. S. Chisum trails, leading from sections of Texas, converged in this vicinity. Over these routes great herds of Texas longhorns, scions of hardy stock from Spain, moved northward. Big Springs, 2.4 miles west, was an important cattle watering place. Legend says that Billy Comstock, early scout, was killed here by Indians, who left him unscalped in tribute to his courage and ability. Erected by the State Historical Society of Colorado and by Highway 59-61 Association and the Mount Pearl Community Club. 1954

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Kit Carson — 12 mi
• Colorado — 25 mi