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Jan 30, 2010
Express-News: Cattle drive gives glimpse of old San Antonio
Before the sun crested over the downtown San Antonio skyline
Saturday, 38 longhorn cattle moseyed out of two 18-wheelers and began
to graze on hay in temporary pens under Interstate 35.
Step back a good 150 years ago, and this scene would not be so striking.
San Antonio's paved streets were dirt. Cattle drives were commonplace.
At 11 a.m., the herd took to Houston Street on a one-mile trek to the Alamo, passing high-rise hotels, banks, shops and restaurants and an estimated 26,000 onlookers. Their horns, which on some stretched a good four feet in length, smacked together while horse-riding drovers kept them from taking a wrong turn.
Meanwhile, pooper-scoopers from Jay High School kept the crowd from taking the wrong step.
The cattle drive was the featured event in the first Houston Street Two-Step, a precursor to the 18-day San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, which begins Thursday and runs through Feb. 21.
The second part of the two-step was the Houston Street Stroll, in which participants got a paper “passport” and took it to businesses along Houston Street to get stamps for discounts, Western-themed food, door prizes donated by the businesses and rodeo tickets. The event was launched by the city's downtown operations department and the Downtown Alliance.
Read full article: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Cattle_drive_gives_glimpse_of_old_San_Antonio.html
Step back a good 150 years ago, and this scene would not be so striking.
San Antonio's paved streets were dirt. Cattle drives were commonplace.
At 11 a.m., the herd took to Houston Street on a one-mile trek to the Alamo, passing high-rise hotels, banks, shops and restaurants and an estimated 26,000 onlookers. Their horns, which on some stretched a good four feet in length, smacked together while horse-riding drovers kept them from taking a wrong turn.
Meanwhile, pooper-scoopers from Jay High School kept the crowd from taking the wrong step.
The cattle drive was the featured event in the first Houston Street Two-Step, a precursor to the 18-day San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, which begins Thursday and runs through Feb. 21.
The second part of the two-step was the Houston Street Stroll, in which participants got a paper “passport” and took it to businesses along Houston Street to get stamps for discounts, Western-themed food, door prizes donated by the businesses and rodeo tickets. The event was launched by the city's downtown operations department and the Downtown Alliance.
Read full article: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Cattle_drive_gives_glimpse_of_old_San_Antonio.html