Found this poem in an old publication. Poem written by: S. Omar Barker, 1864-1865

Merry Christmas  & Happy Trails

The first cattle drives from Texas on the legendary Chisholm Trail headed north out of Dewitt County about 1866, crossing Central Texas toward the markets & railheads in Kansas. The trail was named for Indian trader, Jesse Chisholm, who blazed a cattle trail in 1865 between the North Canadian and Arkansas rivers. That initial trail was expanded north and south by other drovers. The trail was not one fixed route. As one historian remarked, “Trails originated whenever a market was found. A thousand minor trails fed the main routes.Roughly, the Chisholm Trail went from the Rio Grande near Brownsville, through Cameron, Willacy, Kleberg, Nueces, San Patricio, Bee, Kames, Wilson, Guadalupe, Hays, Travis, Williamson, Bell, McLennan, Bosque, Hill, Johnson, Tarrant, Wise and Montague counties. It crossed the Red River and continued to Dodge City and Abilene, Kansas. Another popular route approximately paralleled the main trail, but lay farther east. Fixed points on the trail, which all the drives on the Chisholm Trail used, were the crossing on the Colorado River near Austin; Brushy Creek near Round Rock; Kimball’s Bend on the Brazos River; and the Trinity Ford in Fort Worth below the junction of the Clear and West Forks.The peak year on the Chisholm Trail was 1871. After interstate railroads came to Texas in the mid-1870’s, trailing cattle to the Midwest became unnecessary. The Chisholm Trail was virtually shut down by the 1884 season.

I was havin breakfast at the “Ranch House” in Yarnell this morning when a colorful old Cowboy came in and sat down next to me at the counter, ordering up grub. He told me his name was Ben and he had lived and worked for many of the Ranches in the area, all his life. The stories just seemed to pour out of him like the syrup on his Flapjacks. Thankfully I had my little pocket recorder handy and turned on. With that said I must share with you one of his colorful tales, he called "The Sheep Camp Story"

It was just getting dark when I parked Red Bird, gathered all my stuff and

headed for the house. Rainin a pretty good lick and not payin attention where

I’m walkin, cause the winds are tryin ta blow my Stetson off,, I almost step on these

two “Dudes” having a disagreement in the mud in the middle of my driveway!!!