This plan was put before Kansas State Historical Society who directed a Roy Marsh to map the trail. This was done and the first marker on the Santa Fe Trail was place at the old well in Burlingame, Kansas, in Osage County in September of 1906 by the Topeka Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in memory of Fannie Geiger Thompson, whose idea it was to mark the Santa Fe Trail. Not soon after the placing of the first marker the rest of the states joined the marking project.

     The Daughters of the American Revolution members recognized the importance of this marking project and strived to complete it in the first part of the twentieth century, before the trail had been lost to the influx of modern highways and commericial development destroyed the trail all together. Five years after the project to mark the Santa Fe Trail, Mrs. W. E. Stanley, State Regent, announced the completion of the marking, ninety-six markers had been set. This was announced at the State Conference in Leavenworth, Kansas.

     We, the modern day travelers of the Santa Fe Trail owe to these early trail buffs a big thank you for their efforts to preserve this bit of American history for future generations to enjoy.

     This information is from several different sources that I have. The main source is the DAR book Marking of the Santa Fe Trail, by the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kansas and the State of Kansas, 1915. This book was written shortly after the project was completed so I consider it to be the "bible" for this work. By a personal visit to a lot of these markers. The markers are named the way the Daughters of the American Revolution named them, then I put the names that others have called them. I know that there are more then likely errors in some of this information. The markers have been moved, and are still on the move, some have been said to have been stolen, and others have just vanished only to be found again. There is only one Marker that is missing, lost or stolen, in the 1997 survey of the markers, who knows where it went. This marker is in Finney County, Marker Number 71. The only thing that I can see that the Daughters of the American Revolution did wrong was, they didn't put wheels on the markers so they could be moved with less trouble, sometimes it is hard to keep track of just where they are on this day of the week. Of the original markers there are a few still in the original location that the Daughters of the American Revolution put them.

     If you have information on any of the markers as to where they might be now at this moment and my information is wrong, do let me know and I will change it. I would like to have this as a good place to look for the locations of the markers. I will put this information up by State, starting with Kansas, why Kansas first? Because this is the State I live in. The rest will come as my time permits and I can find the information that I am looking for.