istory comes to life with Denton’s new Trails West tour, the latest gem in the city’s rich collection of heritage tourism.
The tour follows the Denton-to-Abilene leg of the Butterfield Overland Trail—a track of land created in 1858 as a stagecoach route from Missouri to California. The tour stops overnight in Abilene where travelers can explore the Frontier Texas! museum before taking a different route back to Denton. It’s an interesting trek for history buffs.
“If you follow the Butterfield, you cross the Chisholm Trail, you’re on the Goodnight- Loving Trail, you’re on the Immigrant Trail. You either traverse or cross half a dozen trails out there, all going different places for different reasons,” says Bob Montgomery, former Denton city councilman, amateur historian, and the tour’s guide.
:: FAST TRACK TO CALIFORNIA
After the Mexican-American War, in 1848, the United States took over the land that included California, which began to rapidly populate, especially after the discovery of gold in 1848. Because California was “completely divorced” from the rest of the country, travelers could either go by ship around the horn and walk across the Isthmus of Panama or travel by wagon, which could take months, Montgomery says.
“It was very unsatisfactory to the folks in California, and they began to make noises about breaking off and forming their own country west of the Rockies. The American Congress heard this and did not want any part of it,” he says.
Backed by a $600,000-a-year subsidy from Congress, a stage operator from upstate New York named John Butterfield laid out the trail. Service began in September 1858, carrying mail and passengers—no money— from St. Louis to San Francisco in 25 days or less.
“It cost $200 to ride the stage, and they went day and night,” Montgomery says. Stopping roughly every 30 miles, the stage traveled from St. Louis to Fayetteville, Ark., to Sherman, Texas, to El Paso, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., to Los Angeles to San Francisco. “It was one heck of a ride. You were on the stagecoach for more than three weeks almost continuously.”
Safely delivering people and mail, the stage continued to operate until 1861.
“When the Civil War was about to begin, they changed the route to keep away from Confederate hotbeds,” Montgomery explains. “The last few stages came and stopped in Denton on the current town square. And very few people know that. It’s not marked, and that’s what got my interest, and why we want to commemorate it here in Denton—to let people know that we’re sitting on a major piece of American history.”
:: HANDS-ON HISTORY
There are two Trails West tours this fall: One starting from Abilene (Oct. 4-5) and the other from Denton (Oct. 11-12).
As the tour rolls along, Montgomery opens up the colorful history along the trail, talking about cowboys, Indians, the cavalry, raids, fights, and much more. “Half of the cowboy movies ever seen have their origin in the very area we’re traversing,” he says, pointing to places like Archer City, hometown of Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winning author Larry McMurtry and film site of The Last Picture Show and Texasville. The trail drives that inspired Lonesome Dove started just west of Denton, in Jacksboro in 1866.
Montgomery also points out the graves of the men who inspired Lonesome Dove’s characters Gus and Deets, as well as the site of the Warren Wagon Train fight that triggered one of the nation’s last big Indian wars in 1871.
“There’s just a boatload of stories out there. And I don’t just tell the story. I take you and show you where it happened. That way it reinforces it,” says Montgomery, who is writing a book about the Butterfield Trail, due to publish in January 2009.
“Denton has wonderful museums, a great variety of unique shopping, and a feast of culinary experiences,” says Kim Phillips, vice president of the Denton Convention & Visitor Bureau. “Denton has a lot to offer anyway, and the Butterfield Trail, we hope, is going to become the next ongoing tour opportunity available in Denton.”
Celebrations marking the Butterfield Trail’s 150th anniversary are planned along the route throughout the year. Montgomery also hopes the federal government will designate it as a national historic trail, and that the U.S. Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp. “It was a mail route after all,” he adds.
For more information on the tour, contact the Denton Convention & Visitor Bureau at (940) 382-7895, (888) 381-1818, or visit www.discoverdenton.com.
BY RACHEL STOWE MASTER | PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY DENTON CVB