Last weekend I went to Georgetown for the Chisholm Trail Days festival for the Statesman.
The big event of the day was a small-scale cattle drive through the park, but I got there a little early to cover the other happenings.
There were lots of historians in authentic clothing and military uniforms teaching people about what it was like to live during the Civil War. Buffalo soldiers, Confederate soldiers and prairie women set up tents and chuck wagons in the park to live the prairie lifestyle for a day.
Here are some photos of that portion of the day:
After walking around for a little while, it was time to get in position for the cattle drive. It was supposed to happen on one end of the park, along the San Gabriel River. People were lined up on one side of the trail and I asked if I could stand on the other side. The lady in charge said I could stand in the dry riverbed as the drive came through.
A few minutes before the drive started, I made my way down in to the riverbed, but I was so far below the path that I wouldn’t have been able to see the cattle as they passed. So I climbed up on a rock and waited.
While I stood there at least three staff people came to make sure I was there in an official capacity. They also warned me that the cattle probably wouldn’t be a problem, but just in case they jumped the cliff in to the riverbed, I was to jump between rocks, cover my head and not look back. That was a little scary to hear, but it was too late to move, so I stayed on the rock.
When the cattle drive came, my fears were relieved. There was a small group of no more that 25 long horns and all of them were very docile. They’d walk a little while, then eat some grass, then stop to look at me, then eat more grass and move on. I wasn’t afraid of a stampede in even the slightest way.
Here are the photos from the drive:
