Turn right/south on Hiwassee Road. You are perhaps a bit too far east, but you must get past the Turner Turnpike. As you travel on Hiwassee, you pass Hiwassee Lake. At three miles you will pass over the turnpike, Highway 44. At the end of four miles from Highway 66 you will turn left/eat on Memorial Road. The Cross Timbers again appear.
We left the buffalo camp . . . and had a toilsome and harassing march . . . over ridges of hills, covered with a ragged meagre forest of scrub-oaks, and broken by deep gullies. Among the oaks I observe many of the most diminutive size; some not above a foot high, yet bearing abundance of small acorns . . . There is a pine-oak which produces an acorn pleasant to the taste, and ripening early in the season. WI 146
After some twists and turns described in the directions, you reach the meeting place of Clar-Mar Drive and Hogback Road.
Here is the plaque honoring the day of Ringing the Wild Horse, October 25, 1832. Look to the southeast at the beautiful valley. This spot has been honored three times. First it was honored with the placing of a plaque on the day of the Centennial, October 25, 1932. Then it was honored in 1971 with the official naming of this spot as a National Historic Place. Then it was honored this spring of 2007 with a rededication of the plaque on the stone column where it first was placed. The rededication was part of an official Oklahoma Centennial Project. When you look at it on your Tour, you honor Irving and his Tour again.
. . . we discovered a most beautiful smooth prarie 2 miles long, and 1 ½ miles wide - The southerly side was skirted by the cotton wood and other trees . . . running almost in a semicircle - the North West & East was bounded by small oakes - . . . On the right of us was a large herd of wild horses! On the left a small herd of buffaloe! HLE 109
This is the valley of Ringing the Wild Horse. When Irving looked at this valley he saw horses to the right and buffalo to the left. Latrobe also remembered the sight of this valley with delight and amazement. The river was the North Canadian which they would soon cross and which the 21st Century Tourist will soon cross.
. . . We saw before us a meadow of about four miles long by one in breadth, bounded towards the river by a gigantic grove of cotton-wood trees, indicating the course of the river. To the right appeared a large troop of wild horses, and to the left, toward the lower end of the prairie, were seen the huge backs of a number of Bison. CJL 64
The Tourists learned a completely new way to capture wild horses. The valley actually contained the North Fork of the Canadian. It travels very far north right about here. Irving got the name of the river wrong, but everything else right. This story might well be read before you start on your Tour or perhaps it could be read by you, the Tourists, taking turns, as you look out over the valley. You will find Irving’s complete description of “Ringing the Wild Horse” on pages 146-150 in A Tour on the Prairies.
. . . this line of rugged hills swept down into a valley, through which flowed the north fork of the Red River. A beautiful meadow about half a mile wide, enamelled with yellow autumnal flowers, stretched for two or three miles along the foot of the hills, bordered on the opposite side by the river, whose banks were fringed with cotton-wood trees . . . we beheld a troop of wild horses, quietly grazing on a green lawn, about a mile distant to our right, while to our left, at nearly the same distance, were several buffaloes; some feeding, others reposing and ruminating among the high rich herbage, under the shade of a clump of cotton-wood trees . . . it was determined to . . . try . . . the grand hunting manoeuvre, which is called ringing the wild horse. This requires a large party of horsemen, well mounted. They extend themselves in each direction . . . and gradually form a ring . . . so as to surround the game . . . two or three ride toward the horses, who start off in an opposite direction. Whenever they approach the bounds of the ring, however, a huntsman presents himself and turns them from their course. In this way they are checked and driven back at every point; and kept galloping round and round this magic circle, until, being completely tired down, it is easy for the hunters to ride up beside them, and throw the lariat over their heads. WI 146 147
When the ring was made, nearly all the horses escaped. Only one good horse was captured. Tonish turned the scene into a debacle by jumping the gun and sending the horses off and away. Tonish, alone, brought back a beautiful cream-colored colt, about seven months old, who was just not old enough or strong enough to keep up with the others. No bad action is without its reward.