Approaching the building, you are flanked by two large, bronze sculptures. The one to the right depicts a Texas Ranger leading a pack mule and was sculpted by Richard O. Cooke. The bronze on the left portrays two trail drivers, flanked by restless longhorns being driven to market, and was crafted by Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore.

Inside the hall, the central rotunda is a miniature of the one in the state capitol. Visitors are greeted by a stuffed longhorn (horn spread, 8 ft. 7 in.) and life-size, pine-carved figures of a dancing couple, commemorating the Pioneer Lancers, who actively preserved the popular dances of early Texas for 55 years until disbanding in 1987.

The exhibit room to the right houses the Texas Ranger Museum and is filled with the weapons, clothing, saddles and other memorabilia of "that special breed of men" who have preserved law and order in Texas since 1823. For 25 cents, one can purchase a copy of the displayed letter from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford, stating, "I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one." (Barrow was eventually felled byTexas Ranger Frank Hamer.)

The left rear exhibit room holds paraphernalia associated with everyday life on the early frontier, including antique dresses, a spinning wheel and a genteel "commode" to hide a chamber pot when the weather proved too inclement for a trip to the "outhouse."

The Texas Trail Drivers Room is situated to the left. There the photographed faces of Texas trail drivers (for the most part, dressed uncharacteristically in their Sunday best) gaze down on the visitor from every wall. Check out the register of names to see if you might have a trail driver on your family tree. You can join a museum organization if you do. The surrounding cases are filled with articles that these men wore and used on cattle drives that averaged 3 to 6 months, herding 1,500 to 3,000 head of cattle at a time to northern markets between 1866 and 1895.

The moderately priced gift shop contains a wide assortment of "Texana" books and souvenirs, and the museum itself is nominally priced at $3 for adults, $2.50 for military and seniors 55-plus, and $1 for children 6 to 12. It is located at 3805 Broadway, adjacent to the Witte Museum, and open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. You can make this a jumping-off place for your own trail drive to other nearby points of interest -- the San Antonio Zoo, Witte Museum, Japanese Sunken Gardens, Botanical Gardens and historic Fort Sam Houston. "Head 'em up! Roll 'em out!"

Texas Pioneers, Texas Trail Drivers and Texas Rangers Museum, 3805 Broadway, 210.822.9011
Monday - Saturday: 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday: Noon - 4 pm

Adults: $3.00
Seniors & Military: $2.50
6 - 12: $1.00
Groups of 10 or more:
Adults-$2.00 and Children-$ .50