Monument Hill near Addington

The west has been immortalized by the likes of John Wayne in movies such as Red River.  Wayne and company herds the cattle north to Kansas to find wealth and success.   Times of economic hardship drove these hardy cowboys who we have romanticized in film and lore.  The reality of the post Civil War south and the demand for beef in the north drove men to leave their families to run with the cattle on the Chisholm trail and other trails established to drive cattle through.   I live near Duncan which is home to the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum.  The romantic love of the cowboy is on display in their amazing collection of western Art.   

This monument in honor of the Chisholm Trail  can be found east of Addington Oklahoma.

I love the fact that there is a grave on top of this hill. One of the trail drivers wanted to be buried on this hill. I think if I were a cowboy, I'd want to be buried out in the west too. 

Those twenty years of the time of the cowboys and the cattle trails were brought to an end as the rail-heads made their way south, while the farmers enclosed the land with their miraculous barbed wire fences.  In his honor of Mr. Lattimore's grave here  is a picture of the Cowboys and Longhorns at Duncan's celebration this fall. 

The monument on this hill provided a look out point for the drovers herding their precious cattle to market. 

When you are driving out east of Addington  looking for the historical marker you see this obelisk jutting out on the horizon.  

The view to the south of monument hill.  You can see for miles.   Now you can see why this was an important look out point on the trail.  Visualize thousands of cattle being driven towards you. 

View to the North.

Barbed wire is fencing in this Chisholm Trail monument.  Barbed wire helped cause the decline of the great cattle drives that crossed the west.  

 

Comments

[Sharon Conine]

This is very interesting! I've driven through Addington so many times and I've never been that far East. I can't wait to take the family there when it gets warmer next spring.

[Joy]

It was about 2.5 miles off of the road, I didn't expect anything impressive. I expected a sign...saying "Cows crossed here" - but it is pretty neat.