Charles Goodnight

Here at Black Springs in the Keechi Valley in 1857, the celebrated pioneer open range cowman and trail driver Charles Goodnight (1836-1929) located his first ranch on the extreme Indian frontier of Texas. From here he took part in the 1860 Pease River fight when Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured from Comanches, he served as scout and guide for the Texas Rangers during the Civil War and in 1866 he laid out the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail, over which thousands of longhorns were driven to market in New Mexico. In 1867 at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, his partner Oliver Loving died from wounds suffered in an Indian attack. Without the aid of an undertaker, Goodnight carried the body by wagon through hostile Indian territory for burial at Weatherford (24 miles southeast). Goodnight extended his cattle trails to Wyoming and to Colorado, where he started a ranch near Pueblo. In 1876 he established the first cattle ranch in the vast Texas panhandle, which became the internationally known JA Ranch. Involved in the preservation of the the area's native buffalo, he also bred the first herd of cattalo by crossing buffalo with range cattle. Goodnight's pioneer efforts led to the development of the frontier and the Texas cattle industry. (1982)

Charles Goodnight is a historical marker in Oran, Palo Pinto County, dedicated in 1982. It is one of 45 historical markers documented in Palo Pinto County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 53 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.9630, -98.1595 near Oran. The nearest cataloged historic site is Black Springs (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Black Springs Cemetery, Crawford, Simpson, and Lane, Alfred.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5363000814. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.