Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008 - (Page 36)

TRANSPORTATION Rebuilding the Chisholm Trail: Modern Approach Revives Historic Route Booming transportation demands call for an upgrade to the predecessor of the Texas highway system. By John Quintero as “Texas Gold” were driven from South Texas to the cattle markets in the North on what became famous as the Chisholm Trail. Although this trail was used only for two decades, it provided a steady source of income that helped the impoverished state recover from the Civil War and feed the nation. During this most colorful period of Texas history, youthful trail hands on mustangs help lay the foundation of the Texas cattle industry and made the cowboy an enduring folklore hero. Yet the greatest contribution that the old Chisholm Trail gave Texas and the surrounding states is one that few persons, even those youthful trail hands, would have ever envisioned. Their collaborative efforts in driving cattle northward helped establish the roadway infrastructure of this country and the state of Texas. Today, of the state’s highways parallel the same beaten paths established by those cattle drives. The best description of this trail can be found in the words of Charles Moreau Harger in 1892, when he stated, “From 200 to 400 yards wide, beaten into the bare earth, it reached over hill and through valley for over 600 miles, a chocolate band amid the green prairies.” This was the genesis of the Texas Highway system. las/Fort Worth area to help maintain and improve their quality of life. According to the April 2003 North Central Texas Council of Governments’ (NCTCOG) 2030 Demographic Forecast, the total population for North Central Texas in the year 2000 was 5.1 million. This number was projected to grow approximately 56 percent to 9.1 million by the year 2030. The four NCTCOG core counties— Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant—captured 90 percent of all growth in the region in 2000. Tarrant County, which had a population of 1.6 million residents, is projected to lead the way by capturing 21 percent of all growth during this same period. The growth rate represented in this forecast is at a magnitude never before experienced in the North Central Texas region. Consequently, more efficient transportation systems are needed to accommodate existing and future traffic demand between the Fort Worth and the developing areas in southwest Tarrant County. Though major reconstruction of the freeway system is occurring, many of the local and rural streets are forced to serve The year is 1865, and perhaps the darkest chapter of American history is brought to a close with the end of the Civil War. Texas was bankrupt and in despair. The state’s only potential assets were its countless millions of longhorn cattle, for which no local market was available. Surrounding states such as Missouri and Kansas had closed their borders to Texas cattle in the 1850s because of deadly Texas Fever “There dawned a time in Texas that a man’s poverty was estimated by the number of cattle he possessed,” remarked Joseph G. McCoy, a prominent cattleman of the time, referring to the critical nature of the time. Cattle in Texas were worth $1 to $2 per head on the local market; however beef was in big demand in the Northern states, where these same Texas cattle could bring up to $40.00 a head. McCoy, an entrepreneur from Illinois, sought ways of supplying the Northern states with Texas cattle. In the spring of 1867, he persuaded Kansas Pacific Railroad officials to lay a siding at the hamlet of Abilene, Kansas, on the edge of the quarantine area. He began building pens and loading facilities and sent word to Texas cattleman that a market was available. Between 1867 and 1887, more than six-million, wild longhorn cattle known New Demands on an Aging System Today, this same cattle trail is being called upon by the residents of the Dal- 36 October 2008 Sustainable Land Development Today

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Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008 Contents Our Voice Editorial Board SLDT Resources Dynamic Duo Holding Your Ground Technology Low Impact Stormwater Management Seeking Your Feedback Preferred Providers Bookstore Back from the Brink Finance Transportation Building Smart Industry News Advertiser Index Products/Services Showcase Marketplace Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008

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