The recent flooding resurrected the practice of a real life cattle drive for some modern day cowboys in Liberty County.  Approximately 500 head of cattle had to be rescued from a small dry island of land.  The drive took the herd straight through downtown Dayton to the amusement and fascination of local residents.  The Houston Chronicle reports on the step back in time.

It was a scene lifted straight from the sepia-tinged film of an old Western – a harrowing rescue of hundreds of cattle through floodwaters, herded onto dry land and through town to safety.

But there were cars and boats here to carry the calves too small to tread water. And in town there were people – hundreds of them – snapping enough pictures and video on smartphones to stir up a viral sensation.

It was a distinctly Texan success story after a hard week in Liberty County, where road flooding along the Trinity River trapped residents in at least 600 homes last week. On Sunday, downtown was full for the show.

“Oh my goodness – you couldn’t even park a car all the way through Dayton,” Liberty County sheriff’s Capt. Ken DeFoor said of the crowded streets in the town of about 7,400 northeast of Houston. “It’s not every day you see a cattle drive going through a major highway going through downtown. You see that in the movies, but you don’t see that in real life any more.”