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Article: Tour the former hometownof Ike and 'Wild Bill' Hickok.(Going Places)
- Article from:
- Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
- Article date:
- July 8, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Paddock Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Mike Michaelson
Series: (Part 2 of 3)
Abilene, Kan., has come a long way since U.S. marshal "Wild Bill" Hickok strapped on his six gun and went in search of a poker game.
Those were the days, in the second half of the 19th century, that Abilene was dubbed "the wickedest and wildest town in the West."
Abilene was America's first cattle boomtown and served as the terminus of the Chisholm Trail. More than 3 million head of Texas longhorn cattle arrived in Abilene between 1867 and 1872, driven by hundreds of cowboys. Many of them became dangerously rowdy and James Butler Hickok, a Civil War scout and Indian fighter, took the job ...