Cowboy stuff, hmm?
I can't think of a better place in North Texas for that than the Fort Worth Stockyards!
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| stockyards |
The Stockyards were once known as the "Wall Street of the West". The cattle trade was
huge! It was dangerous work, herding the cattle all along the Chisholm Trail between Fort Worth and Wichita, Kansas, but the cowboys were well rewarded. Fort Worth was known as the city "where the West begins", the last civilized town before the "wild west", full of outlaws and bandits.
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| cowboys |
The stockyards nowadays are mostly open as a historic district for tourists, but they still hold a bit high-tech cattle auction, and weekly rodeo shows!
We took the bus from Sundance Square to the Stockyards, arriving in the early afternoon, with plenty of time to explore the Old West town.
We hit up the Stockyards Museum and the Cowboy Hall of Fame to learn more about the history of the district and the cowboys who made their livings here in Fort Worth.
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| Quanah Parker, the Comanche War Chief |
At 4pm every day, the Stockyards' biggest attraction begins: the cattle drive!
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| the cattle drive begins |
Cowboys on horseback drive a small herd of cattle down the
street to the delight of pretty much everyone! It's quite an experience
- surreal, almost! For a tourist from abroad (or, for that matter, from
up north), this must be
exactly what they imagine when they picture Texas.
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| driving the herd down main street |
My girlfriend has come here all the way from Thailand, and what better introduction to the Great State of Texas than a real cattle drive at the historic Stockyards?
Yeehaw!
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| daily cattle drive |
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