This overland route, blazed in 1849 by energetic and efficient Army Captain R. B. Marcy, was best known as part of the California gold trail. Starting in Oklahoma, Marcy led an expedition across the Texas Panhandle and back through central West Texas. Both of the wagon roads he laid out served the emigrant traffic. In 1853, this section was planned as part of the route for the first transcontinental railroad in America, but the Civil War shifted sentiment to northern routes. Its importance declined after the railroad came through this county, 1887. (1969)