ELLSWORTH, Kan.-
A bit of the Old West will return to Ellsworth this weekend, when about 50 greenhorns drive 64 head of trophy longhorns through the town.
That will cap the Great American Cattle Drive–three days of festivities planned to raise money to restore the town’s historic insurance building and begin efforts to build a National Drovers Hall of Fame.
The greenhorns paid $1,000 each to retrace a route traveled by drovers–cowboys who herded millions of longhorns from Texas to markets north–from 1868 to 1878. Ellsworth was a major stopping point for the drovers.
Riders on the drive include country singer Michael Martin Murphey, who will perform at campsites and in concert Saturday night in Ellsworth, said Mark Roehrman, chairman of the hall of fame.
“We have riders now who are coming from California to Rhode Island,” Roehrman said. “We’re taking advantage of what our history is, what our heritage is.”
The cattle drive will begin Thursday about 26 miles from Ellsworth and end Saturday afternoon when the cowboys herd the cattle down Ellsworth’s Main Street.
Chuck wagon dinners and cowboy concerts also will be offered during the festival. And a full day of activities is planned Saturday, including an 1870s cow camp with more than 50 re-enactors, a drovers saloon in the town’s old underground business district as well as games, music and food.
Downtown business owners are expecting large crowds.
“I’m hoping so,” said Tammy Krause, owner of Oxhide Arrangements, a western decor store. “It’s going to be nice to see history again.”
Jim Gray, who operates Drover’s Mercantile and is an avid Ellsworth cattle days historian, said people already have come into his old-time western apparel and gift shop with questions about the weekend.
Gray’s great-grandfather, horse trainer George Gray, worked for area drover Capt. Eugene Millett and operated Grays Ranch, which shipped cattle by rail from Texas to Kansas. His great-uncle moved cattle along the trail, and Gray still ranches, using horses to herd his Hereford cattle.
“I think it is going to be quite a spectacle to see all those longhorn cattle come down the Main Street of Ellsworth like they did 130 years ago,” Gray said.
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Information from: The Hutchinson News,
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