The 19th-century Chisholm Trail, which crosses Route 66 in western Oklahoma, is being considered by Congress for national historic trail designation, according to the state’s lieutenant governor.
Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who leads the state’s tourism department, stated in a Facebook post a few days ago:
No state can match Oklahoma’s heritage and history, and the Chisholm Trail is one of many reasons why. Between 1867 and 1871, about 1,500,000 head of cattle passed through Oklahoma on this trail. Now, thanks to U.S. House Bill 2512, the Chisholm Trail is on its way to designation as a national historic trail. If you want to see America, you need to see Oklahoma. #OklaProud
The proposed bill is called the Chisholm National Historic Trail and Western National Historic Trail Designation Act. Its sponsors are from Kansas and Oklahoma. The Western Trail, the lesser-known of the two but lasted longer as a cattle route, goes from Texas to Nebraska through Oklahoma.
The National Park Service completed a feasibility study about the proposed national trails in 2019.
Ken Busby, a chief officer of the Route 66 Alliance, echoed many Route 66 enthusiasts’ thoughts with this comment on Pinnell’s post: “Let’s hope Route 66 will join the Chisholm Trail as a national historic trail this year as well!!”
For those scoring at home, Route 66 National Historic Trail legislation has been introduced in multiple sessions of Congress and never quite made it to the finish line, despite its wide bipartisan support. If the Chisholm Trail bill makes it to the president’s desk sooner, that would gall many roadies.
The Chisholm, which was used between roughly 1867 to 1884, According to Wikipedia, the trail was represented in at least 27 films, including the famed John Wayne film “Red River.”
The trail roughly follows U.S. 81 in Oklahoma, which goes through the Route 66 town of El Reno.
Here’s a short primer of the Chisholm Trail:
(One of the Chisholm Trail markers in Oklahoma by Jimmy Emerson, DVM, via Flickr)
One branch of the Chisholm trail went through Yukon partly because of a source of water from a year round spring. It passed very near Garth Brooks Blvd. Plus there is a mural on the east end of downtown of the cattle crossing a river.
There is also a sign on the corner of Rt 66 and 9th street, indicating you cross the Chisholm Trail here.
Fred from The Netherlands