Texas Cattle Drives BEFORE The Chisholm Trail

Long before the Texas cattle trails turned north through Fort Worth, Red River Station and Indian Territory to a railhead in Abilene, Kansas, there was a solid trade in herding cattle from south of San Antonio eastward into Louisiana.  This trade started as ear;y as 1830 long before the Civil War. It continued after 1865 and Harper's Weekly published a fine woodcut image and article in their October 19, 1867 edition.

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It's interesting to note that the cattle shown are not what we think of as traditional Longhorns.  Pictures of the period quite often show cattle of this type.

The short article below, published on the next page of the article gives what I think is an interesting overview of this early trade and it comes from an different point of view, rather than the Texas view.

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In addition to the drives east,  cattle had been driven  up the Shawnee Trail through Waco, Dallas, Preston, into eastern  Indian Territory and on up into southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri.  Shortly after this article was published or maybe at about the same time, the long drives to Abilene began.

Whoa! Turns Out That Jesse Chisholm Really Blazed A Trail to Nowhere.. And It Ended Up in South Texas..

How did Jesse Chisholm's name get on the great cattle trail from south Texas to Abilene, Kansas? Contrary to trail romanticists and current public opinion, the little wagon road from Wichita Kansas to the Wichita Reservation Agency store near today's town of Anadarko never really contributed a majority of the trail mileage in Kansas and Oklahoma.

A little math along with a look at a special map tells us so. And after that, it might be interesting and revealing to take a long view of the long Trail.

Over the last year or more I have been turning over the old pages of Chisholm Trail history and lore that I had neglected since about 2007, which was the last update of the The Great Texas Cattle Trails map. Since that time, primarily due to the information explosion on the Internet, more sources have come to light and several history groups have been taking a closer and more critical look at the subject. The result has been greater clarity and more reliable sources.

Chisholm Trail Log: To give a solid background, here is an 1880 map of the period with some trail mileage overlaid.  Extended notes from the map Legend: (All mileage is  approximate):

• Abilene KS. to Wichita, KS.: 93 miles. This route was laid out and marked in 1867 by Joseph McCoy's surveyors.  No part of this trail used Jesse Chisholm's 1864 wagon road which ended at Wichita. 
• Jesse Chisholm's 1864 wagon road from Wichita KS. to Caldwell KS:  62 miles. Only about 1/3 of the Kansas trail to Abilene used Jesse Chisholm's wagon road. 
• Jesse Chisholm's 1864 wagon road from Caldwell KS. to the Wichita Agency (Anadarko), OK.: 160 Miles. About 60% of the 275 (160+115) miles of the Abilene cattle trail theoretically used Jesse Chisholm's wagon trail. 
• The Wichita Agency (Anadarko) to Red River Station, TX.:  115 miles.  Probably was never heavily used.
• El Reno, OK to Red River Station, TX: 125 miles. Did not use Jesse Chisholm's 1864 wagon road. Part of the "official" Oklahoma Chisholm Trail.
• Red River Station, TX. To Fort Worth, TX: 95 miles.  The distance from Red River Station to Fort Worth was just about the same as the distance from Wichita to Abilene.

1880 Colton Map With Cattle Trails Overlaid ~Electric Books Collection

• The "Official" Oklahoma Chisholm Trail Map: The highly detailed 1933-1936 "Chisholm Trail" map created from an Oklahoma Highway survey and with the aid of the Oklahoma Historical Society shows that the "official" Chisholm Trail path was mostly to the east of current US-81 from Red River Station north and would not have intersected Jesse Chisholm's wagon road until it reached the Canadian River at about Fort Reno. Using this "official" route, the last 40 miles of the Jesse Chisholm wagon road from Fort Reno to the Wichita Agency would not have been a part of the main Chisholm Trail.

1933-36 Official Oklahoma Historical Society Chisholm Trail Map

• The State of Oklahoma has produced the best and most believable research on both the Chisholm and Western Trails. This work began very early and over the years has produced an almost unanimous agreement with the results. The heritage of the Chisholm Trail in Oklahoma is very strong.

Here is some more clarification of the Trail:

• Jesse Chisholm's Trail ended at Abilene, Kansas.  This is not true. His road ended at the Arkansas River where Wichita now is. Although Chisholm may have driven a few cows from Wichita to a trading post in Fort Leavenworth, it was Joseph McCoy who hired civil engineer T. F. Hershey to survey and mark a direct path to Wichita from Abilene.
• Jesse Chisholm's Trail started on the north side of the Red River. This is not true. The closest that Jesse Chisholm's old wagon road came to Texas was at the Washita River crossing where the Wichita Reservation Agency was located.  The first recorded drive  went from the Texas line went up to the North Fork of the Canadian River before hooking up with Chisholm's trail several miles north and east of the Wichita Agency. 
• Jesse Chisholm's Trail never was in Oklahoma or Indian Territory. This is not true. However, the Trail Log and maps reveal that only about 120 Miles of the 275+ mile Chisholm Trail in Oklahoma had anything at all to do with Jesse Chisholm's wagon road. The other 155+ miles of the Trail was on newly broken land or previous unnamed trails that already existed.
• Jesse Chisholm's Trail never existed in Kansas. This is not true. However, there are only about 60 miles (Caldwell to Wichita)  of the 150+ mile Trail to Abilene in Kansas.  The 95+ miles of Trail from Abilene to Wichita was surveyed and marked by Joseph McCoy. 
• Jesse Chisholm used his 1864 wagon road for Texas trail drives.  This is not true. Although Chisholm, his sometime partner J.R. Mead and others periodically did move cattle from Wichita to the North Fork of the Canadian and back for trading purposes.

A bridge on the Trail. Taking what we now know, it is pretty clear that part of Jesse Chisholm's wagon road was just a bridge between two other sections of what now is known as the Chisholm Trail. This takes nothing away from Chisholm himself or the wagon road.  He was one of the great pioneer figures of the west and his trail from Wichita to the trading posts in Indian Territory was very important in its time. 

Why "The Chisholm Trail"?  How did the long cattle trail from the the Red River to Abilene become almost universally known as "The Chisholm Trail", when less than half of Jesse Chisholm's wagon road was actually a part of the Chisholm Trail itself?  Joseph McCoy didn't name it. In fact, if McCoy had been more of promoter, he probably would have named it after himself and it would have been called the "McCoy Trail" without question.  Other names like "The Abilene Trail" and the "Texas Trail" were used both as common terms and trail titles, but just didn't stick or became attached to later trails.

The answer is simple and uncomplicated: Jesse Chisholm's wagon road was the only "named" trail in existence when the drives started from Texas. The rest were mostly generic with the name of the departure point or the destination.  As the Trail developed, the use of Chisholm name became a simple and recognizable term for the whole trail. It became a generic "brand" that was easily recognizable and became the most commonly used name.

The Old Trail Drivers Agree: Interestingly enough, in 1931 at the conclusion of the Old Trail Drivers Association meeting, George Saunders who had been up the Trail more than a half-dozen times, was quoted in a newspaper that "The Chisholm trail was marked from Abilene Kansas to Red River Station and no further". This obviously  includes the extensions on the north and south of the old wagon road.  But for some reason Saunders was quite clear that the Trail went no further south.

SA Express-10-16-1931~George Saunders~Pres Old Trail Drivers Assoc

Note: The historical record is explicit that Joseph McCoy really only "marked" the new trail from Abilene to Wichita and simply sent agents out to the most popular Red River crossing points and further down into south Texas. Saunders also said in the same article that "McCoy hired Chisholm to lay out the route". McCoy does not mention Chisholm at all in his book and there seems very little basis to the suggestion that McCoy & Chisholm had a business arrangement in the short time before Chisholm's death in 1868.


* Not an issue: The historical and public community involved with the Chisholm Trail in Kansas and Oklahoma today is almost entirely unconcerned with the idea that large parts of what is known as "The Chisholm Trail"  in both states were not really ever a part of Jesse Chisholm's original wagon road.  These two Trail states have avoided controversy and have expended their energies on creating cattle trail documentation that far exceeds that of Texas. They have been polishing their heritage..

No Chisholm Trail in Texas! South of the Red River, there is a pocket of historical quicksand located mostly between San Antonio and Fort Worth. For almost 100 years there have been contradictory pronouncements from several sources that have managed to tarnish the deep heritage of the cattle trail from south Texas to Abilene, Kansas. Several theories are offered as proof. They contradict each other, but no matter:

"Nothing But Feeder Trails To the Red River": This is a brush-fire issue that is generally used to take the focus off the weakness of the "Not in Texas" position. It also lingers in some Oklahoma references. The idea might seem to have some credibility until you consider that the three earliest maps (1872-1873-1875) used exactly the same line width and colors for both feeder trails and the main stem from San Antonio through Fort Worth. This of course gives the impression that each trail carried the same number of cattle per year. Which is dead wrong. These maps give us absolutely no information about the sheer number of cattle that passed through the main stem towns compared to the feeder trail traffic. Sadly, this thoughtless cartography was copied onto later maps that spread the confusion. 

1875 Kansas & Pacific RR Trails Map ~ Feeder Trails in Texas

Cattle Count: As an example, in 1868 Fort Worth estimated 75,000 head and in 1871 360,00 head passing through with some estimates doubling that. In comparison, did Weatherford, which was on a northern feeder trail connecting to Red River Station ever pass even a fraction of this number in a year? Or how many cattle crossed the Brazos between Fort Graham and Cleburne compared to any of the feeder trails to the west? There don't seem to be any statistics available for the feeder trails, but it seems reasonable to estimate that most of them passed a few herds of 1000-2000 head once or twice a year or maybe a little more. And that most of those herds joined the main trail stem at some point along the way as the maps show. 

May 22, 1875-Dallas Weekly Herald

Twenty five herds on the main stem road between San Marcos and Fort Worth does not sound like that route  was a "minor" feeder trail. A later newspaper report in August of 1875 says the the total Texas cattle driven for the season was around 166,000 head. Even allowing for overly enthusiastic reporting by local newspapers, it is easy to see that the trail from San Antonio to Fort Worth probably accepted 2/3 of the total Texas cattle traffic for 1875, which was the last before the railroad came to Fort Worth and also a year that saw the drift toward the new Western Trail continue. 

Out West: The later Western or Dodge City Trail also began in south Texas just about where the Chisholm Trail began, building its main stem up through Fort Griffin and Doan's Crossing with extensive feeder trails as well. History does not seem to record any strident outbursts claiming that the real Western Trail was only in Oklahoma and Kansas and that there were only unnamed feeder trails in Texas. 

Flip-flop:  If the feeder trail theory was valid, then why do the many later maps show names like the  Abilene, McCoy, Texas, Northern, or Eastern Trail  running up the main stem to Red River Station from South Texas?  One cancels the other. You can't have both. 

"Jesse Chisholm's Trail never was in Texas": Very true. The old wagon road never came close, just like it never came close to the Red River or Abilene. This is the major issue that has always clouded the Texas heritage to the Chisholm Trail. It is worth some serious consideration because there are a fairly large number of those who feel that this is important.

The Trail extensions from Wichita to Abilene and from Red River Station to Fort Reno have been accepted by the states of Oklahoma and Kansas as part of the "Chisholm Trail" for over 80 years.  More important, George Saunders, the early and respected leader of the Texas based Old Trail Drivers Association also agreed that the Chisholm Trail ran from Red River Station To Abilene back in 1931.

The reasons for the adamant refusal to include Texas as part of the Chisholm Trail may have been partly personal, partly a misunderstanding of the true development of the Trail or just sheer hard headed thinking. Whatever the reasons, they are all pretty irrelevant now.

The Chisholm Trail IS a part of Texas History: Given all this background, what logic keeps the southern Chisholm Trail extension out of Texas?  The route from the North Canadian to south Texas along the main stem from Fort Worth south past San Antonio is one long logical extension of the original Trail.  Just as the route from Wichita to Abilene is the northern extension.

The Chisholm Trail didn't have boundaries defined by either the Arkansas or Red rivers.

Jesse Chisholm

* Ralph P. Bieber's long, exhaustively sourced footnote at the beginning of Chapter 6 of Joseph McCoy's "Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of The West and Southwest" is one of the best and most reliable sources on the development and extension of the Chisholm Trail.. 

1849: Major Ripley Arnold Speaks Up In Defense of the New Fort on the Trinity

It is 1849 on the Grand Prairie of Texas, just east of the Cross Timbers on a high bluff overlooking the the confluence of the Clear Fork and the West Fork of the Trinity River. A new U.S. Army outpost has just been established by young Brevet Major Ripley Arnold as part of a defensive picket to protect new settlements.  The post which does not have a protective palisade, is named Fort Worth.

Construction work gets underway, scouts and patrols by the mounted 2nd Dragoon troops are begun. Contact is made with the few local settlers.  Local Indian tribes as well as itinerant hunting groups are received at the camp and trading is begun.

Dragoons in field dress ~ From Ft. McKavett & The 2nd Dragoons

Supplies come in via Fort Graham to the south which also includes the mails. Newspapers of which the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Galveston News are the most prominent, are eagerly awaited. The June 17, 1849 edition of the Times-Picayune arrived with this article:

Times-Picayune, June 17, 1849

This article, which contained no sources at all, was troubling. To most Americans of the time, Texas seemed as far away as Afghanistan is today. The newspapers of this era had found that the Indian wars were wildly popular with their readers and treated whatever news there was almost as a sporting event with the small US Army on one side and the native tribes on the other. As always happens in the media, if there is no current news, then there is sometimes a tendency by the less ethical to create some.

Times-Picayune ~ August 6, 1849

Much was riding on the effectiveness of this new chain of Forts and the protection it would offer to those who were coming into Texas. So Major Arnold, in the midst of setting up this forward post, took pen in hand and replied directly to the scurrilous article with good humor, precise information, a direct non-nonsense manner and a plea to come to Fort Worth to join the settlement. 

This will not be the last we will hear from and about Major Ripley Arnold.

Note: The news articles above were the earliest I have found that mention Fort Worth.

1894: A Lost North Fort Worth Map Reveals a Tantalizing Hint ~The Old Road to Azle?

I love a mystery.  Even a little mystery.  This lost map mystery is really little and in the vast scope of things, insignificant to Fort Worth history. It all started this way:

1894 North Fort Worth Plat ~ Oakwood Cemetery Archives

Several years ago a search of the Oakwood Cemetery archives turned up this fine old 1894 plat map of North Fort Worth done by Brookes Baker, one of the earlier surveyors in the Tarrant County. It was a "blue line" map on a very heavy weathered tan colored paper.  The gray scale version is shown here to allow greater detail at a reasonable resolution.  This is one of the earliest maps of North Fort Worth that I have seen. It is based on Nathan Barrett's original 1889 plat and extends north only as far as NW 23rd Street.

With permission, I have been allowed to examine this map in detail and to include it in my Lost Antique Maps of Fort Worth CDROM where a full resolution, zoomable copy is available. Close study of this map has turned up some interesting and sometimes unexpected additions to Fort Worth history...

1894 Old Azle Road ~ Click to zoom

One of the little mysteries that this map reveals is located at the point on North Main where it jogs to the the right or due north at NW 20th street as it does today. The clip above shows that there was a road that apparently was a direct extension of North Main named Azle (Graveled) Road that headed off to the northwest. Obviously that road no longer exists. It is not a part of today's Ellis Avenue.  I thought for a while that it might be a shortcut to Clinton Street, but now I no longer think so.  Just the other day, a quick look at a large 1955 Fort Worth map during another quest gave me  a possible answer.

1955 Fort Worth Map ~ Click to zoom

If you look at the old 1955 Topo map above, you will see as I did, that there is a very definite relationship between this little stub off of North Main and the beginning of Angle Avenue where NW 26th and Refugio meet. The white line running diagonally from just north of NW 20th Street shows the approximate relationship of Angle Avenue to the little abandoned 1894 stub off North Main.

Angle Avenue and Cliff Street come together just past NW 28th street. Remembering of course, that none of the roads north of 23th Street nor Refugio existed until Rosen Heights was platted in about 1903. North Main was another mud track to the east of this line. Let's name this projection "Old Azle Road" or OAR.

Assuming that the angles were good and that a road was possible between the two points, the next question would be to figure out why it ran this way toward Azle, rather than some other direction, because there were options. Early roads were generally natural pathways that were animal or Indian trails and almost always followed the line of least resistance.

Current Aerial of Old Azle Road with elevations ~ Click to zoom 

The OAR projection on the Google aerial above shows that the elevation above sea level as it branched from North Main was about 555', then rose to about 630' and then descended to about 576' where it joined 10 Mile Bridge Road. Headed northwest out of town, the road climbed about 75' in 6 blocks or about 1/2 mile. Coming into town from the northwest, the climb would have been about 50' in a little over 2 blocks and then a gentle slope down to North Main.

These elevations are very important since in the period before 1910 almost all Tarrant County roads outside cities were unpaved, rutted, dusty tracks that became mud bogs after it rained. All of the merchandise and farm goods had to be hauled by wagon using teams of horse or mules. The most useful roads were those that avoided steep grades or river crossings.

Angle Avenue north to 10 Mile Bridge Road ~ Click to zoom

Those familiar with North Fort Worth are aware that there is a line of bluffs that run from just west of North Main starting at about Northside Drive that continues on up to about where North 820 runs. It is the barrier ridge between Marine Creek and the West Fork of the Trinity. At some points the drop off from NW 25th or NW 26th Street to the Marine Creek banks is almost 100' and is very steep.

If you follow the elevation markers on the aerial it becomes apparent that there is what was probably a natural crease dropping from the junction of NW 26th and Refugio down to Marine Creek, which later became Angle Avenue.  Note that they named it an "Avenue" rather than a street which might indicate its importance in the early days.  As a comparison, drive down Lee Street from NW 26th and then do the same on Angle Avenue. The difference is very notable.
 
Why did this old road exist?  After all, even in the late 1800's it was possible to to follow what is now North Main up to about NW 26th street and cut-off over what is now Cliff Street to 10 Mile Bridge Road with fairly easy grades.  Marine Creek many be part of the answer, since any other route required either a river crossing.  I don't think a bridge over Marine Creek existed until after 1890 when the first packing houses and stockyards were started. Even until the 1950's Marine Creek was crooked, flood prone and had steep banks that probably were difficult for wagon traffic to deal with.

Is this the reason Angle Avenue exists today?  Did our OAR connect between 26th street and the jog on Main Street? It's something to think about.....


10 mile Bridge Road is named for the Trinity River crossing about halfway to Azle. The road starts at about where 28th street is today. It leaves Fort Worth running a little northwest along Marine Creek and rises to a crest about where Boat Club Road is today. Then it runs downhill through some very hilly county until it reaches the Trinity River bottoms just below where Eagle Mountain Dam is today. It was one of two main roads to the northwest from Fort Worth until Jacksboro Highway was completed in about 1932. 

1917-18: A Hot Time In Old Camp Bowie's "Entertainment" District? Not!

The moment in 1917 that the deal that cinched Fort Worth as the site of a huge new US Army training post was signed was a moment that changed Fort Worth and its residents forever. The post, which became known as Camp Bowie and was located across the Clear Fork just west of downtown, literally made the earth move. As the glow of success began to fade a little, one of the myriad problems that faced the Army and its host city was how to entertain the "Sammies" as they were called then.

This was no small problem.  It was estimated that there might be as many as 30,000 recruits flooding into town.  Almost all of them were between the ages of 17 and 21 and most were from small towns in Texas and Oklahoma.  The testosterone levels in the area between Stove Foundry Road and White Settlement Road and along Arlington Heights boulevard would be off the scale.  A situation that opportunist Rev. J. Frank Norris welcomed, but that presented a real logistical as well as moral challenge to the more level headed and less self aggrandizing.

1918 Camp Bowie Map ~ CH Rogers ~ Click to zoom

The Federal planners had already set up a War Service Commission that would deal with providing wholesome diversion and entertainment to the troops in the various camps that were building across the US.  And of course the churches and YMCA's, etc. were all enlisted. In addition, concession rights were granted to some for the operation of on-base amusement parks and facilities.  C.W. Parker of Leavenworth, KS. was awarded a two-year contract for Camp Bowie.

09-07-1917-Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Parker, a well known and respected operator of amusement parks and shows, decided to bracket the Post by refurbishing dilapidated Lake Como at the west end of the camp and by creating  a "Joyland" park In the triangle just to the south of the West 7th and Arlington Heights intersection.

Lake Como & Joyland Entertainment Sites ~ Click to zoom

There was lots of work to do to get everything ready and as could be expected help was hard to find and expensive. Parker also was looking for investors and merchants for the sites as well.

Construction went along fairly rapidly and Lake Como was ready by the first part of October, announcing a complete reconstruction and the largest US flag in the world at 80' by 150'.

10-12-1917 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Construction lagged a little at Joyland, but finally the moment came....

10-20-1917 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

As the 1917 season progressed carnivals, musicals and variety stage shows were booked and toward the end of the year the were both professional and amateur fight cards.

11-25-1917 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Dainty Girls?" It is a little hard to see how most of these traveling attractions would appeal to the young men that were training daily in ever more deadly arts. Looking back almost 100 years, it appears that many of these shows & events were aimed at the local population.

02-15-1918-Fort Worth Star Telegram

As  the US moved into the European war the US Government ramrodded through a series of Draconian measures. One of them was to "protect" the morals and health of its its youth. This in spite of the fact that they were old enough to be sent into mortal peril to be used as cannon fodder in the muddy trenches of France. A military commission was set up and one of the first emergency rules that came down made keeping houses of ill fame a Federal offense.

02-08-1918 Forth Worth Star-Telegram

The idea was to inhibit soldier visits to districts like what was left of Hell's Half Acre in lower downtown Fort Worth.  The local news media pretty well put a damper on the reporting of any kind of ex-curricular activity like this or bootlegging which was of course rampant during Prohibition. However, the fact was that any soldier on leave could get on the streetcar on Arlington Heights Boulevard and be anywhere he wanted to be in minutes. There were plenty of stories of bootleggers and shady ladies in cars circling around the perimeter of the camp after dark providing drive-by service.

C.W. Parker's amusement concession seemed to start off well in the fall of 1917 as the troops were arriving. However, after the first of the year 1918, almost nothing is found about his operation. It seems to have dwindled away. There are several probable reasons:  The troops were training very heavily with a target embarkation to Europe in the middle of the year. Devastating epidemics including Spanish Flu and meningitis were flowing through the camp and the community and quarantines were common and long.  Although not reported very openly, hundreds and perhaps thousands of troops died at the camp. After the first divisions left to heavy fighting, the war came to an end sooner than expected and operations at Camp Bowie were cut back.

09-17-1917-Fort Worth Star Telegram

After the armistice, Joyland just disappeared as the lease was relinquished.  Lake Como, which had been a part of the Camp land agreement, settled back into its slumber.  There would be another attempt to resurrect it in the 1920's but Lake Worth had become the recreation place of choice. 

In spite of its enormous effect on Fort Worth which continues even today, Camp Bowie was really just a flash in the pan.  It was begun in 1917 and effectively done by the end of 1918, with no hope of it becoming a permanent post.  But while it was here, the Camp made the earth move..

The Stockyard Museum has large-format copies of the 1918 Camp Bowie map in their Museum Store.  This is the only good map ever published of the Camp Bowie area...

Images from the Electric Books Collection. 

Up the Hill: Memories of Ranger Hill on US-80 and the Bankhead Highway

Old time truckers have many tales of Ranger Hill in the days before Interstate 20 toned things down. It's still quite a hill to climb and there are remnants remaining of the earlier roads that took different, more difficult paths to climb the steep grade.

Ranger Hill really starts in Eastland County at about where IH-20 and SH-16 meet a few miles south of Strawn. It's on the flat plain skirting the lower Palo Pinto Mountains.  For those headed west, the escarpment juts up steeply and is a real barrier to any reasonably straight approach to Ranger and the cities beyond it on the way to Abilene and El Paso. The 300 foot elevation change from the bottom to the top of the hill would have made it almost impossible for use as a wagon road without multiple switchbacks. In times past, Ranger Hill has also been called Thurber Hill, although that usage is not as common today.

Old Road From Strawn to Ranger Pre-1919 ~ No Direct Route From Thurber to Ranger

As far as is known, the earliest main road from Strawn and Thurber followed the Texas & Pacific Railroad as it stayed at water level through Wiles Canyon into what was Tiffin and then Ranger. The Texas and Pacific Coal Co., which owned the coal mines at Thurber and had the oil play around Ranger, seem to have pushed their own privately financed road up across the Hill in about 1919 after which it was taken over by the State Highway Commission as part of SH-1 and the Bankhead National Highway. By this time cars and trucks that could handle the climb were in more common use. 

Ranger Hill From SH-16 to First Crest ~ Click to Zoom

We can see how really steep the Ranger Hill grade is by using the Google elevation display.  Starting at about 1130' above sea level (Almost 600 feet higher than Fort Worth) a sweeping left hand turn ends up about 200' higher in a very short stretch.  Still climbing, it's another 60' to the first crest at 1400' elevation. From this point it levels for a while and then climbs a little more than 100' to about 1530' at the site of the old Ranger Hill Station complex.

Just to the north of the main road is the old US-80/SH-1/Bankhead Highway route that attempts to cut the grade a little by circling wider around a hill and then pushes on up to the 1400' crest point where it rejoins the present highway on the way up.

Ranger Hill Station Today ~ Click to Zoom

For a place that was once known as a welcome landmark on the trip from Fort Worth to points west, Ranger Hill Station looks pretty sad today. However, in its day it was an oasis for those with steaming radiators, flat tires, burned clutches and useless brakes.  A whole community grew up on the Hill, aimed entirely at needy travelers and their vehicles.

The Ranger Hill Community ~ Click to Zoom

The Ranger Hill Station is located about a half-mile up the hill after exiting IH-20 to Ranger. This is the old US-80/Bankhead route. To the west of the station, were other service stations and buildings and shops some of which are in use today for other purposes.

Interestingly enough, it has just recently been announced that much of the area north of Ranger Hill will probably be in the new state park which begins just to the west of Strawn.  

Old Service Station-Now a shop ~ Click to zoom

The station itself had a coffee shop and there were at least two motels to shelter those who got caught at the top of the hill as well as at least one other gas station. There was a well-built field stone motel on the north side across from the station and it also appeared to have a coffee shop in the main building.

Motel Office and sign. Probably a Coffee Shop as Well ~ Click to Zoom

The shells of these buildings and their roofs appear to be in fair shape today. There is no name on what was once a lighted sign.

Stone Motel Office and Cabins ~ Click to Zoom

On the south side of the road to the east of the station and set back a little are the decaying ruins of another motel with cabins. There's no way to know how these might have looked back in their glory days..

Decaying Cabins On South Roadside ~ Click to zoom

Ranger Hill Station and the little service community that grew up around it was the stuff of legends among early truck drivers, oil men, commercial travelers and tourists. It's surprising that there hasn't been a song or two written about the wrecks and near misses and the shady things that may have gone on at the hilltop. Ranger Hill  has faded now, baking in the hot sun or enduring the cold northers, but its a place that ought to be visited before it is no more.

From Ranger.. Looking West ~ Click to Zoom

Once past Ranger Hill Station, it's a few miles into Ranger itself where there are some interesting buildings, some history and  some almost pristine remnants of the old red Thurber brick Bankhead Highway to Eastland......

Another time..

All images from The Electric Books Collection

A Little History is Passing: The Old Saginaw Airfield Is About Gone

Things change around us in the blink of an eye. Last July I was headed into Saginaw to have breakfast at JR's. The sun was in my eyes, and as I moved east on McLeroy past Knowles Street I sensed something was different at the old airport.  Something was missing.  Something was new.

Hangar at Saginaw Airport East End ~ Click to Zoom

What was missing was the older yellow brick house, its garage and the outbuildings around what had been the airport center. In the space of a week, everything was changed. What was new was the hangar.  Not  really new, but you never could really see it before because of the clutter.  It struck me as impressive, in a way.  I stopped and pulled into the driveway for some pictures.

2001 ~ Looking north.  McLeroy Street in foreground..

I have lived west of Saginaw since about 1997 and am into and out of the town several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I knew that the field had been built in about 1945 by a man named McNeil. The land had been sold for development several years ago. The paved runway had been plowed up and the T-Hangers on both sides had been taken down with one exception. 

Hanger East Side ~ Click to Zoom

Now on this day there is just the big hanger. However, that hangar took on a whole new dimension without the clutter around it. The place almost becomes an Aerodrome in the classic sense. Built of common materials it still becomes a little stately in its appearance. Solid. It has seen the best and worst of aircraft and probably some that were unique or improbable. Just picture a stagger-wing Model 17 Beechcraft in front of it, or a big radial engined Cessna 195.  

West Elevation ~ Click to Zoom

I talked to the man who rents the hanger and he told me he thought the owner had the rest of the buildings pulled down and plowed under because they were in bad shape and there were some liability problems. He said he had no idea of what was in the future for the old hanger, but that it was serving his purposes nicely.

There is one old building remaining to the west of the big hangar. It's a closed shed hangar that has been used occasionally for "estate sales", but everything else around it is gone.

Old Hangar Facing McLeroy ~ Click to zoom

I suppose it it hopeless to think that someone might come up with some way to save the big old hangar and use it without too much change. At 65+ years old it could be considered historic in a technical sense, but I have an idea that the land is probably zoned commercial and if the economy ever turns around,  then we'll see it disappear overnight as well.

I'll enjoy it while I can..

Here's' the whole story on the airport history from the Abandoned Airfields website...

All images from The Electric Books Collection