"Head 'em up and move 'em out!" Trail Boss Gil Favor's famous words from
TV's "Rawhide" will once again echo over the Kansas plains as the Kansas
150th Anniversary Cattle Drive heads for the end of the trail at Ellsworth.
Celebrations will be held in several Kansas towns along the old
Ellsworth/Cox Cattle Trail.

Four hundred head of Texas Longhorn cattle will be gathered just south of
Caldwell, in Oklahoma, over the weekend of September 3rd & 4th, 2011, in
preparation for the "big drive."

The "Border Queen" Caldwell, Kansas, is celebrating its 140th birthday in
unison with the 150th anniversary of the founding of the State of Kansas so
be prepared for a big weekend!

Labor Day morning, Monday, September 5th, cowboys will point the cattle
north, trailing the herd through downtown Caldwell on their way to
Ellsworth. It will be 200 miles of Wild West adventure!

Just as in the days of old, the trail boss will be in charge of two
chuckwagons, four "cookies," seven drovers, seven "guest" drovers, a string
of horses, and, of course, a great herd of longhorn cattle. Guest drovers
can sign on with the outfit for one week or the entire three weeks!

The route follows the old Cox Cattle Trail to the Kansas Pacific Railhead at
Ellsworth. The trail was originally blazed in 1873. Modern cowboys will
trail cattle on the very same route used by original drovers, bed down the
cattle on historic bed grounds and camp at the very same cow camps that made
the cowboy famous. The herd will cross rolling prairie and ascend a "ladder
of rivers." Each rung of the drive is marked by Fall Creek, Bluff Creek, and
Sand Creek before crossing the Chikaskia River.

Each week will offer new adventures. At the South Fork of the Ninnescah
River the cattle will arrive at Kingman, Kansas, on Saturday September 9th.
Kingman is planning a 150th Anniversary Blow Out September 9th-11th.
September 12th the herd leaves Kingman crossing the North Fork of the
Ninnescah River. Antelope, Indian Run, Rattlesnake, and Salt Creeks guide
the trail drivers ever northward for another five days on the trail before
reaching the Arkansas River and Ellinwood, Kansas.

Saturday morning, September 17th, the Kansas 150th Anniversary Cattle Drive
will trail down Ellinwood's Main Street. Ellinwood's 150th Kansas
Anniversary Celebration will be held September 17-18.

The final leg of the Kansas 150th Anniversary Cattle Drive will leave
Ellinwood September 19th trailing five days crossing Cow Creek, Plum Creek,
and the Ox Hide, leading drovers and cattle to the Smoky Hill River and the
end of the trail cattle town of Ellsworth, Kansas.

We'll be keeping those "dogies" rollin' for Ellsworth and the end of our
drive. The old cattle town will be waiting anxiously for the cattle to
arrive. Come celebrate the 150th Kansas Anniversary in true cowboy style, at
the End of the Trail! 

The Kansas 150th Anniversary Cattle Drive has been named one of American
Cowboy Magazine's Best of the West Top 101 Western Events. For more
information contact the Trail Boss, Mike Clover, 718 Cedar Street, Kingman,
Kansas, 67068. Phone 620-532-3455 - Email  mike@kansascattledrive2011.com