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Show AF V ft by MARTI ATTOUN i Photos by David Doemland Life by the Santa Fe Trail Kenneth McClintock brags about the baked ham and the homemade bread served at the Hays House Restaurant, but what can't be beat, he insists, is the local history. Since 1837, travelers have filled up at the Hays House on the Sana Fe Trail. It's the oldest continuously operated restaurant west of die Mississippi, opened by Seth Hays, of Daniel Boonr and the founder of Council Grove, Kan. (pop. 2,321). Thousands of merchants ' traveled the Sana Fe Trail. Council Grove was an international trading post," says McClintock, a historian who great-grands- portrays Hays during Days, a community celebration held the third weekend in June. was the last Kaw Indian chief bom in the area. Wah-Shun-G- ah Wah-Shun-G- ah . Although canvas-covere- d wagons no longer rumble along Main Street and the Neosho River, the Santa Fe Hail still defines the town. Remnants of the nail days can be seen at 21 historic landmarks, including nine National Historic Sana Fe Trail sites. Council Grove was die most important stop an the Sana Fe Trail,'' ays Don Cress, who founded the local diapcrr of the Sana Fe Trail Association. The route was established in 1821 to cany goods between' frontier Missouri and Sana Fe, Wagon trains rendezvoused at Council Grove before pushing westward across the nigged and treeless plains. 800-mi- le Nil Mounted units bring the Mt of the We had abundant hardwoods here to make wagon repairs. And this was the last place to buy beans, sow belly, and whiskey until you got to Santa Fe," Cress says. Travelers stocked up at The Last Chance Store; a one-roo- m 1837 limestone building that stands today. Cress, 83, became fascinated with nail history when he was 6. I'd ride by all these places on a hone to go to school, he recalls. It stuck with me that I lived where the Kaw Indians once lived. Council Grove has been ailed the birthplace of die Sana Fe Tail because of the treaty signed here Aug. 10, 1823, giving Americans safe passage through Osage Indian land. Gathered in the shade of a oak, a council of US. commusionen and Osage chiefs fbtged the agreement in exchange far $800. The Council Ode blew down in a windstorm in 1938, but die stump remains a sheltered landmark, and die council and vast grove of trees inspired die town's name. Council Grove also has preserved the trunks of two other landmark trees: the Post Office Oak that served as an unofficial post office fbr travelers who left messages at in base, and the Custer Elm where Gen. George Armstrong Custer camped while patrolling the trail. Other historic sires indude the 1831 KawMhuon built by the Methodist Episcopal Church to educate the Kaw children, the 1838 Conn Scone Score trading post, the 1892 Farmers and Drovers Bank, and the FeTVigtB Mb during IhaWMi Maw Gah Pay parade. 1867 Cottage House hoed. The 1861 Terwilliger Home ares the last house dot travelers pasted on their journey westward. But the primary gathering spot in Cusrer'k day, and now, is die Hays House, owned by Alia and Rick PhiL Along with being a grub spot, the building over the yean has served as a newspaper office, courtroom, hoed, and church. Paul points with pride to the original log beams, stone fireplace, and bar. On Saturday nights, he notes, the hnrrlit wrir rrwpird r rhmrh rrrnU hr tvU incvlf on Sunday morning. Just as in trail times, travelers leaving Council Grove on experience miles of tallgraaa prairie in the rolling Flint Hills. Sixteen miles south is the lljOOO-acr- e Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the country's only national park dedicated to preserving a remnant of prairie. Five miles west of die sriU-busdi- tndiqg-pas- t town is one of Cress' favorite places. In the quiet, he imagines a flotilla of wagons, because etched into the prairie here are wagon ruts. See where the grass dips h little? he says. That's it. Thart the rrail. If you like history, it's here." 130-year-- Marti Attmtn is fnqmnt contributor to American Profile. ror more information, cafltheCoundl Grove Vldion Bureau at (800) 1 732-92- 1 or log onto wwwxoundlponxom.. Pegot American Profile v-- V '"S'..'-4- - m 'S'.'-.ti-V w.; . rilrtu r .vvj.t i i1;..jfcrif' |