Goodnight Trail
Childress, Childress County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In hostile Indian years of 1866-71, route of great cattle drives from Texas to U.S. forts in Colorado and New Mexico. Col. Charles Goodnight, trailblazer, drove thousands of cattle to water here. Site later (1886) became Childress. Cattle watering hole is now lake in Fair Park. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the dangerous frontier years of 1866–71, this was a stretch of the great cattle trail blazed by Col. Charles Goodnight, carrying thousands of Texas cattle north to U.S. forts in Colorado and New Mexico. Herds watered at this spot on the drive. The site later became the town of Childress in 1886, and the old watering hole is now a lake in Fair Park.
Why it matters
The Goodnight trails are icons of the postwar cattle-drive era that pushed the ranching frontier—and the towns that followed it—across the Great Plains.
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Related people
- · Charles Goodnight
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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