Beach Road TX6242

The Beach Road is the coastal section of the Texas Highway 87 system. Stretching along the Gulf of Mexico from Sabine Pass through Chambers County to Port Bolivar in Galveston County, it follows a historic route that proved vital to the early development of Jefferson County. Native Americans, early settlers, traders, cattlemen and Republic of Texas mail carriers all used the road. During the Civil War, Confederate forces used the route, which was generally known as the "Road from Galveston." By 1920, local residents found it difficult to travel on the unmaintained Beach Road. In 1923, Commissioner W.A. Vaughan worked to improve the route using shell deposits from along the coast. Soon traffic to McFaddin Beach and westward to Port Bolivar increased dramatically, leading to a business boom in the area as firms built facilities for visitors. A larger effort by the state in the late 1920s called for a paved road with a ferry connection to Galveston. The project moved slowly, but in 1931, the Texas Highway Commission named the new roadway as part of State Highway 87. In the 1940s, during World War II, the highway contributed to coastal defense preparedness. The U.S. Immigration Service set up a barricaded checkpoint for through traffic and the Coast Guard patrolled it during that time. Over the years, hurricanes battered the highway and eroded the nearby coastline, resulting in tidal zone encroachment. Destruction caused by two storms in 1989 forced its closure, though sections of the route remain in use for local traffic.

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Cee Vee Cemetery TX3240

The Cee Vee community dates to 1926, with earlier ties to cattlemen Clairborne Varner and Charles Goodnight, who grazed herds in the area using the C V brand. As ranchland gave way to family farms, the community that developed here soon boasted a cotton gin, stores, churches and a school. Tradition holds the first grave at this prairie cemetery was that of a cowboy buried near the C V ranch house. The earliest marked grave is for Eugene Ballard, who died in 1931, the year W.J. Tyson donated land for the cemetery. In the 1950s, the Cee Vee Home Demonstration Club named the site Haven of Rest Cemetery. Citizens donated funds for a fence, and over the years burial sites have remained free. Graves include those of veterans of U.S. military service dating to World Wars I and II. Curbed plots enclose the burials of family members whose names reflect the early history of the area. Maintained by an association, Cee Vee Cemetery (Haven of Rest Cemetery) serves as an important link to the early history of this part of Cottle County.

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Richard M. Brewer WI315
One of the most colorful incidents in the violent history of the American West during the late 1800s, the Lincoln County War in New Mexico involved a Boaz man named Richard M. Brewer. Born February 19, 1850, "Dick" Brewer came to Richland County with his family in 1854, then like thousands of other Wisconsinites he left to seek his fortune even farther west. By 1870, he was a rancher in New Mexico, where he also worked as foreman on John H. Tunstall's ranch. The murder of Tunstall on February 18, 1878, by rival cattlemen launched the Lincoln County War. Brewer, loyal to Tunstall, led a group called the Regulators to arrest Tunstall's murderers. Among the Regulators deputized by Brewer was his friend, William Bonney, who became better known as Billy the Kid. Brewer lost his life in a shoot-out on April 4, 1878, and he became a legend both in Boaz and New Mexico.

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Historic Abilene KS30
At the end of the Civil War when millions of longhorns were left on the plains of Texas without a market, the Union Pacific was building west across Kansas. Joseph McCoy, an Illinois stockman, believed these cattle could be herded north for shipment by rail. He built yards at Abilene and sent agents to notify the Texas cattlemen. In 1867 the first drives were made up the Chisholm Trail and during the next five years more than a million head were received. Abililene became the first of the wild cattle towns where gambling places, saloons and dance halls competed for the cowboys' wages.  Gunfights were frequent and several peace officers resigned.  The first to bring order was Tom Smith.  More famous was "Wild Bill" Hickok who became know as the deadliest "two-gun" marshal on the Western frontier.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower lived in Abilene from 1891 to 1911. The Eisenhower home and museum are open to the public.

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Leland Hotel KS162
The Leland Hotel stood here from 1880 to 1970 when a fire swept through the historic structure. It was built of brick, 3 stories high, 46 guest rooms each with its own running water, a billiard hall, barber shop, bridal chamber, barroom, dining hall and kitchen. Major Odum, a large cattle dealer, built the hotel for other cattlemen due to Caldwell's on-going rivalry between its cattle and farm/city interests. The Leland stood in 1880 as one of the largest hotels in southern Kansas and was most hospitable to its guests, so long as they were an advocate of the cattle industry.

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The Border Queen KS158
Founded 1871, incorporated 1879 by a town company of investors from Wichita and named for U. S. Sen. Alexander Caldwell. The original townsite was north of Avenue F, the Kansas state line prior to 1876. One of the original cowtowns in Kansas, violence and politics claimed 18 city marshals between 1879 and 1885 and led a Wichita editor to write, "As we go to press hell is again in session in Caldwell." Founded on the Chisholm Trail, which was 200 - 400 yards wide and ran just east of this park in a northerly direction, Caldwell acted as a railroad shipping point for Texas longhorn cattle. By 1886 the cattle shipping had moved west as farmers settled the area and planted their Russian hard winter wheat. In 1893 congress opened to settlement the Cherokee outlet and thousands of land hungry pioneers staged here before making the last great land rush in America. Caldwell of the past was home to gunslingers, cowboys, prostitutes, Indians, saloon keepers, and criminals; but around this sign today is a proud, quiet farming community made up of good citizens instilling its small-town values on its youth .. Though, as Bill O'Neal wrote of Caldwell in 1980, "In just the right light it is not difficult to imagine the sounds of a frontier saloon, of cattle hooves, and gunfire."

Orginally sold as empty lots in 1879 for $125, by 1887 a $45,000, 3 story building stood here. Made of Caldwell brick with St. Louis brick fronts and blue cut limestone accents, the build stood 75' tall and was the highest private building in Sumner County. The first floor contained 4 stores, the second had offices, and the masonic lodge was on the third. Known to recent generations as the J. C. Penney store, the building was home to a variety of professionals, businesses, and families during its 102 year existence, finally succumbing to time, disrepair, and the wrecker's ball in 1989.

Catty-corner to the NW was the "Leland", a legendary 1883 cattlemen's hotel. There was a tunnel running between here and the Leland, under Main Street, built as an exit from the hotel for gamblers when law enforcement took exception to their illegal activities. Such exception rarely occurred in cowtown Caldwell in the 1880's for it might have hurt business in the booming city.

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The Judith Basin Country MT14

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Barbed Wire TX300

At first called "Devil's Rope" by cowboys, barbed wire was patented in 1873 but found little favor with Texas cattlemen until the late 1870s, when its use and practicality were shown in a sensational demonstration here in San Antonio. Its showman-sponsor was John Ware Gates (1855-1911), who came here as agent for a pioneer wire manufacturer.

With permission from city officials, he built a barbed wire corral on the Military Plaza, then went into various resorts of cattlemen and boasted of its strength and economy. Some of the ranchers made bets that the wire would not hold wild cattle. While the scoffers looked on, some longhorns where turned into the corral and prodded to frenzy by burning torches. They charged the fence furiously, but the wire held. The experiment was such a success that for a long time orders exceeded the supply of barbed wire. In later life known as "bet-a-million" Gates, the agent founded or organized several wire and steel plants. About 1901 he also invested in Spindletop oil field and helped develop the city of Port Arthur, Texas. With its sister utility, the windmill, barbed wire led to upgrading of beef cattle and enhancement of nutrition and the quality of human life.

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Barbed Wire Demonstration TX3074

Once called "bobwire" by cowboys, barbed wire was a French invention first patented in the U.S. in 1867, but it did not gain favor with cattlemen until the late 1870s. Joseph Glidden of Dekalb, Illinois, received a patent for his barbed wire in 1874, and it was wire of his manufacture that was the first barbed wire fencing successfully demonstrated in Texas.

In 1876, veteran salesman Pete McManus and his young partner, John Warne Gates, made their first demonstration of "the Glidden winner" barbed wire. Though speculation has placed this demonstration in San Antonio's bustling Military Plaza, it was here in the quiet "mudhole" of Alamo Plaza that McManus and Gates set up a barbed wire corral and then drove cattle into the pen. It is said that after the corral held the thundering animals under the astonished eyes of cowboys and cattlemen, the flamboyant Gates invited spectators into the Menger Hotel to place their orders. After the theatrical demonstration in Alamo Plaza, the market for barbed wire fencing suddenly exploded with large sales to Texas ranchers and others along the frontier.

Pete McManus reportedly sold more barbed wire fencing than any salesman in the world. John W. "Bet-A-Million" Gates became the world's largest barbed wire manufacturer. He helped found the Texas Company (later Texaco) and developed the town of Port Arthur.

Barbed wire fencing changed the landscape of the American west and with it the industries of ranching and agriculture. It made possible the introduction of cultivated cattle stock into the beef industry and opened up the fertile land to farmers and other homesteaders. Within 25 years nearly all the open range had become privately owned and was under fence.

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Bear Creek Settlement TX260

Started in 1850s by rancher Raleigh Gentry, who built a 2-room log house and cleared a small farm, but in 1862 sold out to cattlemen Rance Moore. 1860s settlers included Wm. and Lane Gibson, Charlie Jones, John New, A.J. Nixon, Billie Waites. Others came in 1870s after raids by Indians and outlaws were ended.

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