The Chisholm Trail on US-81: Red River to Caldwell
About 233 miles of US-81 along the Chisholm Trail from the Red River below Terral through Duncan, Chickasha, El Reno, Kingfisher and Enid to Caldwell, Kansas.
The Route at a Glance
From 1867 Texas herds crossed the Red River at Red River Station, near present Ringgold, Texas, and walked north through Indian Territory to the Kansas railheads at about ten miles a day. US-81 runs close to their line for about 233 miles, from the river below Terral to Caldwell, Kansas, five hours without stops.
In the Chickasaw Nation the trail passed stations such as Monument Hill and the Old Duncan Store, and in Duncan the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center tells the Indian Territory road. The highway goes on through Chickasha toward Silver City on the South Canadian, where the trail divided. The western branch, for freight and stages, ran by Concho and Fort Reno, four miles west of US-81 at El Reno, to the Kingfisher stage station. The eastern, for cattle, crossed by Yukon. In Kingfisher The Chisholm keeps the farming and ranching that followed, and Governor Seay's Horizon Hill.
The branches rejoined at Dover. North of it the trail passed Buffalo Springs near Bison, where the Oklahoma Historical Society says the trail is still visible a mile and a half south of US-81, then Skeleton Ranch near Enid, where the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center tells the 1893 run, Sewell's Ranch near Jefferson and Lone Tree near Renfrow. It crossed into Kansas south of Caldwell, the last great cow town of the trail from 1883 to 1887. Fences in the Cherokee Strip after 1884, Kansas's 1886 quarantine and the 1887 blizzard ended the drives. In Caldwell the marker Caldwell and the Chisholm Trail takes up how a drive worked.
The Drive, Stop by Stop
4 stops along the route, in driving order from Red River bridge south of Terral, Oklahoma to Caldwell, Kansas. One of them sits off the road itself — the distance is noted on each.
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- 2
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That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let The Chisholm Trail on US-81: Red River to Caldwell do what it does best.
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