For nearly 50 years, the 40-foot-tall marker gave no indication of its purpose. Four rectangular indentations were intended to hold bronze plaques when the structure was erected in 1931. But money was tight in the '30s (if you'll pardon the understatement), and when the cash started flowing again, all of the metal that could have been used on the monument was needed for the war effort. (For you young whippersnappers, that was World War II.)

In 1982, Bill Orndorff reported in The Duncan (Okla.) Banner that the monument had finally been completed -- granite plaques had been placed in the empty alcoves.

The plaque on the north side recognizes Henry and Blanche Price, the landowners who had donated the site for the monument. The plaque states that "this site was given ... in honor of the Pickens County Cowpunchers Association and all other cowboys and pioneers that used this trail." It designates the area as "Chisholm Trail Lookout Point."

Jesse Chisholm, after whom the cattle trail was named, is pictured on the south plaque. "The wagon tracks of Jesse Chisholm across Indian Territory became known as Chisholm's Trail, and Texas cowmen using this route gave his name to the entire cattle trail from south Texas to Kansas. The Cherokee-Scot trader was known to Indians as an honest and trustworthy man -- a reputation that served his country well in his activities as an interpreter and peace negotiator with the Indians."

The west plaque depicts a cattle drive, stating, "Millions of longhorns were driven northward across the plains to railheads in Kansas during the period 1867-1889. The great cattle drives not only helped to feed a nation just after the civil war, they provided one of the nation's most enduring heroes -- the cowboy. The brief era of the open range and free grass generated the greatest cattle boom in world history. This hill was a landmark for drivers who rode northward from the Red River to a campsite nearby."

The east plaque shows the negative side of the cattle drive: A stampede. Lightning forks from the clouds and cattle run and cowboys try to hold the herd together, and the plaque says, "Hardships tested the mettle of men on the trail. Severe weather at times made conditions hazardous as well as miserable, and there was always the threat of stampedes caused by a bolt of lightning, a loud clap of thunder or the trickery of raiders. The scattering of cattle meant that there would be no rest for drovers until the strays were rounded up."

Orndorff reported that Bill Willis of Willis Monument Works in Granite, Okla., made the plaques -- 6 inches deep, 3-1/2 feet tall and 5 feet wide, weighing about 1,800 pounds each.

The monument was completed through the efforts of the Chisholm Trail Museum Association. The Chisholm Trail Historical Museum, by the way, is located at Waurika, just east of the U.S. 81-U.S. 70 junction.