In this corner of Oklahoma history isn't just a matter of time.

It's a part of the family.

Measured in generations, not years.

Remembering when a father first pump water onto his parched cotton fields.

And when a grandfather homesteaded.

And hearing the stories of a great grandfather who drove herds of cattle from ranch to railhead.

Across a vast wilderness.

It all happened right here.

There was a lot of history.

We already knew about the about the Western Trail.

We've done that.

Downs crossing has been down there all these years, and we knew the Western drilling through here.

We went to market where other people can identify where the trail is.

This is something we want to preserve for future generations.

It's part of our heritage in this, in this part of the country, this being cattle country, host country.

David LaRue hammers the iron shoes.

Now, like generations of Smithies before him, he stays busy even in the 21st century.

Joe Harkin's great grandparents came here on a covered wagon.

He grew up listening to the song of the blacksmith.

The Chisholm Trail is a much older trail, but the wooden there's many cattle went through.

The Chisholm is.

This was the Western trail.

The reason for the cattle drives was there was there was any railroads south of Dodge City, and the majority of the cattle were in this part of the country and then in Texas.

So to get them to market it, they had to be driven.

And it was quite a logistical thing to be able to get 3000 head cattle that far, where the cattle, the crowding and the culture coming out, where the dog is all this birds are jingling, this cowpoke is singing this lonesome gold.

The trail started in several different areas down in Texas.

As far as Corpus Christi came up through Fort Griffin, then eventually through the Wilber County and down with the Oklahoma, up the Woodward County and the Dodge City.

Most of the cattle were shipped from Dodge City back east.

The only the only heard that ever went through the center of the trail was the first heard that ever went down it.

They look for landmarks as they as they went along, they left downs.

And, after you get up out of that river valley, you can see the mountains up here at the lake they went through between Teepee Mountain and, flattop.

So that was two landmarks they looked for, and that's how they would navigate.

They even may have had compasses hey hey, hey hey, hey, get up.

They followed the trail.

Those who had gone before.

And most of the time it was busy it up.

Hey hey hey.

Averaging at least 350,000 head a year for 20 years.

The only thing I keep thinking about is after you've driven cattle from somewhere down in Texas to Dodge City, you get the cattle there and you're finished.

You know, you've got a long ride home.

There's no trains.

You got to ride that horse back home.

Let's go do it.

That's the part, this this area's heritage.

It's, It's where we live.

We go you covered wagon.

First time for, this is where I live.

This is my home.

And it's, a piece of history that it's close to.

To my roots.

We don't forget what was here, 100 years ago.

Corner Hardy on it.

And so the grandsons and granddaughters and great grandchildren of the pioneers have gathered at dawn for a breakfast to remember.

We didn't know if there'd be a dozen people or 100 people or 50 or.

Well, but we had from 270 to 300 people.

Great surprise, great turnout, but was indication of the interest that, the people have in history and in, the history of this area.

Most of those people are just Jackson County citizens that, will know about what took place in the early days of their when they lived.

History has been unfair to the whole cattle drive era.

There's not over three pages written in any of the 12 best histories about the cattle drive down and in the cattle drive era, the trail it is not recognized like it should be is the Western Cape.

Then, starting today, that's all going to change.

The Western Trail has the history, the heritage behind it.

The movies made the Chisholm Trail popular, but the Red River and the Billings Crossing and all that happened over here on this side, it is the one whose time has come and the people of Altus, and now they're joining with the people of Vernon, Texas.

They're going to do the same thing with the Western Trail.

It was done on the Chisholm Trail.

It'll be putting these posts clear up to the Kansas Line.

Look, it's taking five of you guys to do that.

And my wife used to carry those by herself.

Her mother taught me the ancestors of some of those who blazed the trail.

We'll make sure it's marked for the generations to come.

As money is raised, posts like this one will be placed in the ground all along the old trail, and significant improvements are on the way for Altus Museum of the Western Prairie.

Well, there she is, folks.

It's it's hopeful that we can, raise enough money to start a project to build a new wing or to to make some additions to the museum.

It's, a lofty goal.

It's ambitious, but something that we would like to try to do.

That's one of the goals that, this committee and this group of people have.

The, the reasons to to expand or to to do something with the museum, is still is for education and to preserve the history that we have in this area.

Take me back to my boots.

And I don't, if it could be more from start to finish, it'd be excellent.

And it's really interesting, the the people that we've talked to concerning this effort have been very enthused.

And they, they, they seem to have an interest in it.

I think we're going to have a lot of people, as we go north, toward Kansas.

We want to be a part of this.

Some of those some of the landowners here are descended from the original homesteaders.

Others are newcomers, but still attracted to the past.

And this shows the, trail kind of trail as it was marked.

Right here at the bottom would be, Butler, where we're at right here today.

And then if you put this line up into this one course, there have been dogs crossing as it comes across there, great turnouts.

And just another indication, really, of the, the support that was there, landowners that we have contacted concernin farm or on their ranch or something have been quite interested in it's certainly been agreeable to it and didn't say, well, I think that's a it's a good idea.

I'm glad.

And, and in some cases as well, I didn't realize it.

The Western trail, came this close to my place.

And so there's, there's some education and there's some enthusiasm from those people as well.

On this particular piece of ground about 20 years and, it just, it is to add, to add, a great deal to it, you know, to learn that it was a piece of history.

Hopefully the, the markers will be there and for another generation or two to to inquire about and, and you know, something about what, what took place, you know, on this, this area, given the 1800s and the cattle drive era in the cowboy era, is is of interest to people.

Anyway, there's a there's something about it that seems to attract, people's interest and the cowboy heritage.

My gosh, you know, everybody wants to be a cowboy.

Or at least they did.

Myra.

And, we're losing some of our cowboy here.

There.

It's a vanishing breed.

They're they're gone.

And I think it's very important.

It's important for the state of Oklahoma.

We need these.

I'm proud of this because I was part of the last heard that ever went down this trail.

And that's a it's a big deal for me.

I mean, it really is.

Nobody else will ever do that again.

Is there was there was about 30 of us that did it.

And it's not going to happen, I don't think, in this century.

And if it does, I'll be there.

But there is, a romanticism about, the cowboy era and the cowboy way of life that people liked and to associate with, I guess maybe everybody kind of had their thoughts one time, that of being a cowboy in.

The West, we have proven, is more than a geographic area.

It's a way of life, state of mind.

And that's that's why the American cowboy world is the world's greatest ever.

Happy trails.

Do you do any of this?