"Research Articles"
This may not be of any interest to everyone researching the Santa Fe Trail, but it does give the history of our site and some background information of how we got started in our search for the Trail. Also other projects that we have been involved in over the years.
Larry & Carolyn -- Enjoy!
This research project started in 1989 when the Chapter began to mark the Fort Hays/Fort Dodge Road at ten locations along it's route. Now the Chapter has added a Auto Tour Guide to be used if you wish to visit the 125+ sites the Wet/Dry Routes Chapter has marked. More historic sites will be added as they are marked. Enjoy!
This is an autotour that was used at the Six Western Chapter Meeting on June 1-2, 2002. This tour takes you from Fort Aubrey on the north to Point of Rocks on the south with many Santa Fe Trail sites in between. Enjoy!
In the summer of 1806, Gen. James Wilkinson dispatched Lt. Zebulon Pike to conduct an exploratory expedition of the Southwest. Wilkinson did so without consulting the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Here the intrigue begins.
In the summer of 1855 two hardy, experienced plainsmen, William Allison and Francis Boothe, ventured to establish a Santa Fe Trail trading post at Walnut Creek Crossing, on the great bend of the Arkansas. The site was in the heart of the buffalo range, and 132 miles beyond the frontier settlement of Council Grove.
Ash Creek, an insignificant little stream, finds its headwaters in north central Pawnee County, Kansas, and flows southeast a brief 25 miles to the Arkansas River.
It was six miles south of the Arkansas River in this pass called Bear Creek Pass, that a trader by the name of Charles Bent was attacked by Indians.
On June 5, 1848 lst Lt. William B Royall was put in charge of two government trains totaling about sixty wagons and led by Burnham and Fulton as wagonmasters, along with four hundred plus head of government livestock. This was just the beginning of this story of a battle with the Indians.
This article is being put on the research page as it contains a lot of historic information and it may be lost in the newsletters. This article was in the Autumn 2000, Vol 7 No 4. The article is taken from an interview with James H. Birch, a soldier in Lt. William B. Royalls command.
The article was published in the October, 1907 issue of the Kinsley Graphic.
"A little way from the road saw a large basin of water enclosed with sand rocks. In it saw a number of fish - on the rock were a number of names cut out. I left the innitials of my name on one of them, as an emigrant to the far west"
Samuel D. Raymond, 1859.
Mileage chart for the BOD, just never got around to using it to much. I always thought that this trail would be intresting to explore a little, but it is quite a ways from where I live and the Santa Fe Trail is almost in my backyard. Hope someone get some use out of it!!
The military career of Captain William Pelzer lasted a mere nine months. Yet during this brief and hectic period the Captain left a deep impression on all who were unfortunate enough to have been stationed with him.
In the spring of 1867 it was the home of hundreds of Cheyennes and Sioux---over 250 tipis scattered along a branch of the Pawnee Fork northwest of Fort Larned, Kansas. Then, in a tragic miscalculation, it became the focal point of "Hancock's War."
Twin brothers Leslie and Wesley Cobb have from an abandoned stone quarry, grown dense with trees, soap weeds and plum bushes, Leslie and Wesley Cobb, have made two beautiful homesites which are often mistaken for a park.
Twenty-seven-year-old Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike was a natural dupe-earnest, ambitious, dutiful, and naive. As a result, his commanding officer, James Wilkinson, top-ranking general of the United States Army and governor of newly acquired Louisiana Territory, found him a most useful tool.
On the Santa Fe Trail, one of the most referred to and researched crossing is the Crossing of the Arkansas to the Cimarron Route or Cutoff. Numerous writers mentioned these crossings and routes in diaries and mileage charts.
DAR Marker locations in the State of Missouri
This is a chart of the Daughters of the American Revolution Survey of the markers placed in the years of 1906/1908 in the State of Kansas.
Daughters of the American Revolution Survey of the markers in the year of 1915 in the State of Kansas.
When the marking of the Santa Fe Trail was first suggested to the Daughters in Kansas at the State Conference in Ottawa, in 1902, no one had any idea of the great undertaking they were about to under take.
Daughters of the American Revolution Marker location in the State of Kansas by Counties, Number, How many are in each county, location and a little history on each one.
DAR Marker locations in the State of Colorado
DAR Marker locations in the State of New Mexico
Biographical information with regard to Curtis is scant. His name first appears in connection with trading activities on the North Platte in 1847.
The "Directory of Santa Fe Trail Sites" has been updated and added to with maps, site photos, areial photo's, GPS readings, driving instructions and other historic data researched and collected by the history buffs who make up the Wet/Dry Routes Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail in Central Kansas. This research project started in 1989 when the Chapter began to mark the Fort Hays/Fort Dodge Road at ten locations along it's route. Now the Chapter is adding an Auto Tour Guide to be used if you wish to visit the 125+ sites the Chapter has marked. More historic sites will be added as they are marked. This major study of the Santa Fe Trail can now be viewed on the WWW through the link above.
Duncan's Crossing; it's not a place that immediately leaps to the forefront of the mind when one thinks of the historic past of Kansas. But, it does have its place in our history, and a group of Kansans want to bring it back to the prominence it once occupied.
On July 17, 1864 the Cheyennes along with the Kiowas and Comanches struck Fort Larned and continued their attacks toward the east. It was into this dangerous situation that a young man named Ed Miller rode on an errand of mercy to help a sick woman in Marion. His courage in the face of the Indian threat was to cost him his life.
This is an attempt to trace Boyd's steps from the place of his birth in Vermont to his boyhood home in Illinois; from his dramatic, if brief, military career to his days as a wagon master; from his life at the ranch to business ventures in Dodge City, Kansas; from his return to Larned to his subsequent and final days in Kansas City, Missouri. The chronology of these 70 years (1841-1911) is presented in four short chapters: The War and the West; The Ranch; The Hotel; The Aftermath.
Ezekiel Williams (or Zeke as he was known) had exploration and adventure coursing through his veins as surely as the rich Welsh blood with which he was born. His forebears came to this nation many years before it was a nation. The frontier was where Ezekiel was raised.
Fort Atkinson was the first regular army post on the Santa Fe Trail in the heart of Indian Country. At the time of its beginning there were forts at both ends of the trail, Fort Leavenworth (1827) on the Missouri River and Fort Marcy (1846) at Santa Fe New Mexico
This study by E. P. Burr of The Santa Fe Trail, Francois Xavier Aubry, The Aubry Trail and Fort Aubry originated as a master's theses in 1971 under the direction of Professor W. W. Butcher in the Division of Social Sciences, Emporia Kansas State College.
We've been allowed to use this study by the author, and our thanks goes to Mr. Burr.
On the Big Coon Creek west of Kinsley, Kansas was a place where the Dry Routes of the Santa Fe Trail crossed the creek. At this location once stood the small outpost called Fort Coon.
The origin of Fort Dodge, now the Kansas Soldiers Home on Highway 400, just east of Dodge City, Kansas dates back to 1847, when Fort Mann was established at the Cimarron Crossing on the Santa Fe Trail a few miles west of the present Fort Dodge.
From the year of 1744, when the French established Fort de Cavagnial on the bluffs of the Missouri River. Kansas has been the home to numerous military forts or posts. This article will cover two of them, Fort Ellsworth, 1864/66, and Fort Harker, 1866/72.
On June 1, 1996 and running through the 16th of June, 1996 the Kansas Archeology Training Program Field School began there annual dig at a place that once was called Fort Ellsworth in Ellsworth, County.
To protect the stage and express lines and the pioneer settlers the United States government ordered the establishment of several military posts along the trails leading to the west. One of these fort was in the vicinity of Big Creek and the Smoky Hill river.
General Orders No. 22 issured on November 17, 1866, by General Winfield S. Hancock, commander of the Division of the Missouri, directed the Name of Fort Ellsworth be changed to Fort Harker, in honor of General Charles Garrison Harker.
In the heart of the vast rolling prairie of Kansas, near Pawnee Fork, is located the best preserved 1860s to 1870s military post on the Santa Fe Trail, Fort Larned National Historic Site. Today the nine original sandstone structures have been restored on the exterior to their appearance in 1868. The reconstructed blockhouse and Flag staff help complete the feeling that you have stepped back into time
Two heavy gates a foot thick swung at the entrance on wooden hinges and loopholes were cut for small arms in the connecting walls between the building.
What began as a small outpost in 1851 near the Santa Fe Trail, during a major economy move in the nation's history, was briefly the central point of supply for several military posts spread over a vast territory. Its garrison participated in a few Indian campaigns in the 1850s, helping to make the region safer for travelers and settlers.
Although General Sherman did not officially authorize the construction of Fort Wallace, Kansas until October 26, 1865, a detachment of troops made camp at the bluffs of the south fork of the Smoky Hill river and Pond creek in September, 1865.
This artist's conception of the last Fort Zarah, Kansas is believed slightly incorrect. If the shadows are correct, then this would be a view from the northeast looking towards the fort and Walnut Creek in the background. The building had only one window, in the east end. The two towers were located on the southeast and northwest corners and were two stories high.
On November 12, 1868, Colonel George A Custer of the Seventh Cavalry, left his camp six miles east of Dodge City on the Arkansas River, marching five miles south to Mulberry Creek, where he joined General Alfred Sully and the infantry with the supply train.
The column forded the Arkansas at Fort Dodge and headed straight for Fort Hays. Two years before when the Eighteenth Kansas marched up and down, to and fro, in this part of the country, it was a trackless waste between two forts. Now the column marched all the way over a smooth, well traveled wagon road.
Sgt. James Albert Hadley
Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry
April 1869
On May 15, 1829, four companies of the Sixth U.S. Infantry under the command of Bvt. Maj. Bennet Riley were greeted by a 15-gun salute as they disembarked from the steamboat Diana at Cantonment Leavenworth. While other officers were deployed to procure provisions and draft animals for the expedition, 2nd Lt. Robert Seiver was ordered to reconnoiter two routes from the cantonment to Round Grove, the well known campground on the Santa Fe Trail at which Riley's command was to rendezvous with the traders assembling at Independence.
The mule trains left Riley the tenth of September, 1862, each traveling independently, with instructions to camp on the Smoky at Salina, then a mere station, until I came up. There was a plain road, but little traveled, and this the first government train of any importance to pass over it. Such was the origin of what H. L. Jones, deputy U.S. marshal at Salina in 1864, called the Fort Riley and Fort Larned Road.
Having no official name, the road to Fort Lyon was known by several designations. Captain W. H. Penrose, Commanding Officer at Fort Lyon, referred to the road as the "stage route to Cheyenne Wells." Luke Cahill, a stage company employee and former first sergeant in the Fifth Infantry at Fort Lyon, called the road "the trail between Lyon and Wallace." At a later date, the road was commonly known as "The Fort Wallace/Fort Lyon Road"
About ninety miles west of Council Grove, Kansas or about six days of travel by wagon train, less than a mile west of what is now the Rice/McPherson County line, the Santa Fe Trail crossed the Little Arkansas River.
On June 9, 1848, Capt. George W. Hook and one hundred and forty three recruits left Fort Leavenworth bound for Santa Fe. With them was a fifty three wagon government train carrying supplies and specie to pay the troops in New Mexico.
It's possible that Larry Carr didn't know what he had when he bought this 400 pound sandstone marker at an auction he conducted in Ellsworth. What he did know was that it had the name "Henry Booth" on it the man who built his house just outside of Larned, Kansas.
Have you seen one of these signs along the Santa Fe Trail?
Do you know of any that aren't on the list of Santa Fe Trail Oval Signs!
Please let me know and I'll add it to the list.
"We stopped at Hohneck's ranche, our quondam friend, for dinner, who had already prepared, in the delightful anticipation of our visit, an elegant and plentiful repast, consisting of bona fide buffalo, deer meat, smoked ham and quinces. We enjoyed it amazingly, and therefore suggest to the belated travelers that they always stop at Hohneck's ranche when they come this way.
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock
In this single charge of the Cheyennes, thirteen were killed and twenty three wounded, evincing a coolness and deliberation on the part of the Pawnees, not excelled by the best organized troops.
From the early 1820s until the Civil War, Lexington, located in western Missouri, was involved in almost every aspect of the Santa Fe trade. While written references, early roads, and memorials exist in some abundance, documented sites and artifacts are rare and scattered.
Since the Santa Fe Trail split in the middle of Lexington, the following auto tour will note divergences while trying to take you through the town on the main route. Recognizing that traffic on the Trail went both ways, we will start our tour at the city limits sign on Highway 224 east of Lexington.
In April of 1872, Booth, one of the original members of the Larned Town Company and post trader at Fort Larned, Kansas positioned wheels under one of the sutler's buildings at the fort and transported it to a location near Schnack Park in present-day Larned, Kansas.
On June 7, 1847 at Fort Leavenworth, Lieutenant John Love and Company B which was made up of about eighty men, new recruits that were from Eastern Missouri, got orders to escort a paymaster to Santa Fe to pay the troops in New Mexico.
Contrary to what the headline might indicate, this is not a "romance" novel. Rather, it's a lesson in group dynamics and also lends credence to that old saw that "it's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody some good". You'll see what I mean as we go along. This article was in the Traces Newsletter 2000,
Vol 7 No 2 &
Vol 7 No 3.
A few weeks prior to Zebulon M. Pike's expedition to the Southwest in 1806, Spanish Lieutenant Facundo Melgares led some 600 troops from New Mexico into Kansas.
The idea of marking a highway began in Missouri about 1909 when a group of women formed a committee to locate the Old Santa Fe Trail in Missouri. This committee was influential in securing an appropriation from the state of Missouri to mark the trail with suitable boulders or monuments.
In August 1859, the Post Office Department directed that the mail service on the Independence/Santa Fe Line be speeded up from a 20 to a 15 day maximum, a change that was in operation by August 22. From Jacob Hall's point of view, the faster schedule made a mail station at Pawnee Fork imperative.
Here are three maps of the Santa Fe Trail. One is rather large but a good map from the National Parks Service, the other two are just your run of the mill maps of the Trail.
The Middle Springs of the Cimarron River provided one of the vital watering holes along the Cimarron Route of the Santa Fe Trail. The Cimarron Route was the only wagon road to New Mexico during the first two decades of the commercial use of the Trail, and it carried a large part of the freight and traffic until the Civil War. Even after the Mountain Route via Bent's Fort was opened, the old route along the Cimarron River remained popular because of its shorter distance and freedom from rough and mountain's of Raton Pass in Colorado. In most years, however, there was less Indian resistance along the Mountain Route.
Over the years I have collected several Santa Fe Trail Mileage Charts and have posted them on this page to maybe help in the research of the trail. These charts could be used in finding that hidden rut, campsite, or just checking on a certain site, I hope that they will do someone some good!
There is a certain prominent hill in northeast Ford County. It rises gradual and sublimely from surrounding vastness. A view from its summit is rare when considering distance. The reason for its name, however, lies in another of the hill's uses. Tradition says it was used as a mule supply point for the trail. From fifty to one hundred mules were kept pastured near the hill and were herded into a strongly built stockade on top of the hill.
A Perilous & Dangerous Crossing of the Wet/Dry Routes on the Santa Fe Trail in Pawnee County, Kansas.
Pawnee Fork Crossing A Cool Oasis. More information on this crossing on the Santa Fe Trail in Pawnee County, Kansas.
For over a century historians have speculated about the circumstances surrounding William Becknell's journey across the plains in 1821, including such issues as where he was heading and the route he followed into New Mexico. Almost exclusively they have relied on Becknell's own account of his trek.
The Gallego Diary appears to demonstrate that, indeed, Mr. Becknell was making a beeline for New Mexico's capital, using a well worn Spanish trail that he'd picked up somewhere below the Raton Mountains.
Photo's and Pictures we've taken on our trips along the Santa Fe Trail. Most of the pages have a little history about the site where the photo was taken.
The Point of Rocks bluff has a rimrock of soft caliche and a base of somewhat harder limestone and is an inpressive landmark that can be seen from points to the south and up and down the river for quite a distance. Several holes of fresh water have been known to exist up and down the Cimarron in this region, the intervals depending on rainfall for a given season.
Marion Sloan Russell recalled a building at Pawnee Rock in 1856, which she described as a trapper's cabin. On a return trip to Santa Fe in 1860, Maid Marion observed "the cabin…still untenanted," beyond Russell's account, the presence of a habitation at Pawnee Rock was rarely mentioned. Two reports are presently known, both in the form of sketches.
Trading ranches established along the many routes of the Santa Fe Trail often served as stage stations, as did the ranche at the Smoky Hill River. Upon securing the mail contract for weekly deliveries between Junction City and Fort Larned in 1862, the Kansas Stage Company dispatched Henry Tisdale to establish stations at the infant towns of Abilene and Salina and at the Crossing of the Smoky Hill River, Cow Creek, and Walnut Creek.
During the first three decades of the Santa Fe Trail, the traders rarely deviated from the established route which departed western Missouri to traverse the prairies of Indian territory before reaching the big bend of the Arkansas River, 270 miles from Independence.
The early Dry Route enters Ford County just west of Offerle, Kansas and travels on or near US 50 highway into Dodge City, Kansas. Along this route Trail Ruts can be seen at four different locations before reaching Dodge City. This route was used before Fort Dodge was established.
The exact date Tim McCarthy arrived at Larned is unknown. One source reported that the Irishman came to Larned in 1870, an unlikely account since the Larned Town Company was not organized until 1871. Jessie Bright Grove reported that McCarthy came in 1872 when the town was being laid out.
Between 1854 and 1866 freight wagons by the thousands, to say nothing of the military movements and stagecoaches, made great use of these toll bridges.
There were many campgrounds on the Trail more picturesque than Lower Cimarron Spring (later to be called Wagon Bed Spring), but there was none more vital to the early traders.
This 10-year compilation is offered to assist those interested in finding specific topics in the forty issues of Wagon Track indexed. Thanks is hereby extended to all those who contributed to this effort. Bonita and Leo Oliva
Trading ranches along the Santa Fe Trail were important to those who traveled the route, and the history of many of these has been recorded. Louise Barry, for example, wrote about the ranches at the Little Arkansas, Cow Creek, Walnut Creek, Great Bend, and Cimarron Crossing. Ranches also were established along the connecting routes, and these are also a part of Trail History.
Between Pawnee Fork and Fort Atkinson there are, for about three-fourths of the distance, two routes---one known as the river route, the other as the dry route…The fork of the road is in a ravine, three and a half miles beyond Pawnee fork crossing…At ten miles from Fort Atkinson the dry route strikes into the valley of the river. By our computation, this route, which is near fifty miles long, saves in distance about ten or eleven miles---but the river route is certainly preferable, as it affords good grazing and an abundance of water.
"Lt. William H. Whipple, 1852"
This article was used on a tour that was conducted some time back on the Wet/Dry Routes. It contains some good information on this section of the Santa Fe Trail in Central Kansas.
William H. Hagan, came from Kentucky to Jackson County Missouri in the early 1840's and settled in the area of Independence, Missouri. After he was married in 1850, and needing the income, he began working for the freighting firm of West, Majors, Russell & Waddell.
"Tuesday, July 15,1806. We sailed from the landing at Belle Fontaine about 3 o'clock p.m., in two boats. Our party consisted of two lieutenants, one surgeon, one sergent, two corporals, 16 privates, and one interpreter."
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