Posted by Bill Sanderson
As a Rotarian in Vernon, Texas Sylvia Mahoney first heard of The Great Western Trail. At our meeting on January 23rd she related her journey in learning about and helping to preserve this part of Western history. You may recall that her experiences appeared in The Rotarian magazine last year.
As a Rotarian in Vernon, Texas Sylvia Mahoney first heard of The Great Western Trail. At our meeting on January 23rd she related her journey in learning about and helping to preserve this part of Western history. You may recall that her experiences appeared in The Rotarian magazine last year. Although not as well known as other cattle trails, it was 2000 miles long and wound through three countries during its 19 year existence from 1874 to 1893. Six million Longhorn cattle were driven along the trail all the way to Canada.
 
Thanks to an extensive archive collection at Texas Tech University,curated by Jimmy Skaggs, Ms. Mahoney and other enthusiasts were able to retrace the trail from Mexico to Canada and to mark it with white painted posts along its route. The first marker was dedicated at Doan's Crossing in 2004 followed since by numerous ceremonies from Mexico to Canada. At every stage there were Rotarians like Sylvia-who now lives in Fort Worth-that volunteered their time and effort to memorialize this piece of Americana from the Old West.
 
Watch the FULL meeting on YouTube here - https://youtu.be/NLYYtkPiZPc