For more than a dozen tempestuous years, beginning in 1867, the Chisholm Trail was the Texas cowhand's road to high adventure. It offered the excitement of sudden stampedes, hazardous river crossings, and brushes with Indian marauders. It promised, at the end of the drive, hilarious celebrations in the saloons, gambling parlors, and dance halls of frontier Kansas towns.The account that appears on these pages reveals the courage, daring, and enterprise of the cattle owners and their cowboys, establishing them firmly as heroes in the westward expansion.

Drawings by: Nick Eggenhofer