Franklin County, Missouri is celebrating its bi-centennial this year (2019). In commemoration of this year long celebration, I will be placing a number of geocaches around the county celebrating this historic event.
When one thinks of "cattle drives", they probably do not have images of cattle being moved along the back hills of Missouri like they do of the "Chishom Trail" which started in 1866 when a man by the name of Jesse Chisholm drove his wagon through Indian Territory (Now Oklahoma) to his trading post near Wichita, KS. The route he took became so popular, they named the route after him. However, Franklin County did have it's own version of the cattle drive!
Starting in Gasconade County, four men, the Frick brothers, Owen, Oliver, Everett, and Mal, along with their trained shepherd dog, Queenie, drove thier cattle over the Hwy 50 route all the way to Washington, MO, terminating at the Union Pacific Railroad cattle pens. Leaving early on a Monday morning, they would move their herd to Washington for local processing and then shipment onto the St. Louis market by rail. Along the way they also picked up the cattle of other ranchers arriving in Washington with maybe 60 of the hefty bovines. The drive would usually last a full week, which means the men did not make it home until late Friday night, saddle sore and very hungry. The cattle drive days ended with the coming of trucks. Maybe, just maybe, that is what Hwy "C" stands for at GZ ... "Cattle"!
Although it is impossible today to know the exact route these men took on their drives, maybe, perhaps, could it be, that they passed this spot where the cache is now located??? Who knows!!! The cache is available 24/7. Parking is within a few feet of the cache. BYOP.