Gary and Margaret Kraisinger, leading experts on the Wester Cattle Trail, will speak about their research and documentation of the largest cattle trail system to come out of Texas on Friday, April 7, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
The presentation is part of the annual Friends of the Plains dinner, which begins with a hosted reception at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m. in Webb Hall on the Emporia State University campus. The public is invited and tickets may be purchased by emailing the Center for Great Plains Studies at cgps@emporia.edu or calling 620-341-5574
The Kraisingers have spent a lifetime researching and documenting, through maps, journals, newspapers and many other primary materials, the largest cattle trail system north from Texas between the years 1874 to 1897. Their two-volume work, “The Western, the Greatest Texas Cattle Trail, 1874-1886” and “The Western Cattle Trail, 1874-1897: Its Rise, Collapse, and Revival,” were published in 2004 and 2015 respectively.
Since completing their work on The Western Cattle Trail, the Kraisingers have focused on the Chisholm Trail and recently published, “The Shawnee-Arbuckle Trail, 1867-1879: The Predecessor of the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas.” Their work is made even timelier with the celebration of the sesquicentennial of the Chisholm Trail.