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| Pink Indian Paintbrush |
There are no firm records about when Jesse
Chisholm was born, but researchers seem to agree that it was around 1805 or
1806. The son of an Irish farmer and an Indian mother, Jesse established
himself as a trader and scout. Although he is best known for the Chisholm
Trail, he spent his life developing trading posts among the Plains Indians.
Once the Civil War ended, he settled in Kansas and improved a trail that had
been used by the military so that it would accommodate the heavy wagons he used
to carry the materials he traded. This road (Chisholm’s Trail, re-named Chisholm
Trail once the cattlemen began using it) went from his southern trading post
near the Red River, to his northern trading post near Kansas City, Kansas. This
road became important to Texas cattle ranchers when their trail drives were
blocked by local Missouri farmers in an effort to keep tick infestations out of
local herds. This meant that the cattle drives had to be re-routed to an area
near Red River Station in Texas. The first herd to use the Chisholm Trail
belonged to O. W. Wheeler. He brought his 2,400 steers from Texas to the Abilene,
Kansas stockyards, paving the way for some 5,000,000 head of Texas cattle to
reach Kansas using the Chisholm Trail.
