Show SAN SANTA JEA FE TRAIL 11 G T I 1 C ea 0 TO THIEVES THUGS thuds FAKIRS AND BUNKO among whom ara JJ anzy SAW DUST BUST CHARLIE WM WE TOES BILLY TUB IBS KIB ED billy mullin little jack the cuter pock marked kid and about twenty others if round irod within tho tha limits of this city after TEN P a is this 14 wm bo be invited to attend a cana P bant r the of which wm will Is be lorna ly by substantial citizens las losvegas vegas march 1882 U lj L j when the rope was wa law on the santa fe trail prepared by br society washington D C r service MARKER Is to be placed placcie at A arrall ingalls lo galls ran by the santa fe trail association as a memorial to jebediah Jeb edlah smith one of 0 the early pioneers of americas west the santa fe trail a hard hoot hoof worn highway often feet wide so beaten and packed that it be plowed and with not a white settlement on its whole savage haunted length stretched across virgin land on buffalo meat alone the plainsman often lived and from green bide he made clumsy boots to save feet from stones and hot sand gaud A rood good days march was 15 miles over this amazing pathway of the plains drove the loosest longest wagon trains the world ever saw trains often miles long with four and even eight creaking wagons rumbling abreast what it a colossal traffic it was pushing out to win the west at its peak wagons on and ox yokes used in one seasonal season I 1 rr franklin anklin sio in kit carsons youth was the outpost of civilization st louis with people was the only other large town in missouri from there clumsy boats battling sand bars snags and muddy whirlpools their passengers often firing at deer or wild turkeys on the wooded river banks beat upstream to franklin where the santa pe fe trail then started franklin boomed with the fur trade it fairly seethed with excited men oxen own bawled mules kicked and grunted through mud mad and dust of the crude towns crowded streets creaked heavily loaded wagons of conestoga type canvas topped schooner like wagons loaded with bolts of calico ging balus velvets velvety vel vets cotton goods cutlery firearms tools and light hardware and drawn by tour four or five pairs of oxen or mules and breasting this westbound stream up from santa fe F e from el paso even from far pack trains came drifting in laden with mexican silver with beaver pelts and buffalo robes big hatte d swarthy spanish Span men in red blankets blank ets and tight trousers men who fought with knives and spoke a purring tong tongue gue strange to missouri folk mingled with returning caravans little left of franklin par far outpost of empire frank franklin 1111 was in those exciting days it saw raw the cheering legions pass but now its symphony of life Is lulled long ago the hungry river claimed mott moa of it IL yew few indeed of the hastening host who pause anix for hot bot ft dogs s or cigarettes even dream what stirring scenes scene were bere staged here when the mexican flag still waved from western kansas to california for tila yet its name like daniel boones find kit carsons endures in the annals of the west As for the trail itself sweeping on from the big muddy to ancient santa F fe e now it Is buster busier and better than ever railroads and motor highways paralleling its course handle vast commerce now millions ride in speed and safety where pioneers beat their stubborn way against thirst and hunger daring torture and death in the forays and ambuscades ambus cades eades of paw nees klowas Cheye noes Co Coman manches clies usages and Arapah oes where millions of buffalo rocked the plains with the thunder of stampeding boods and died from arrows spears and rifle balls now millions of if meat bearing animals lift bovine faces to tare stare at passing trains and motor cars slow rl moving safe in fenced fields chased by no wolves indians or hungry white men on horseback windmills wells and city water systems lots of water now DOW where men wild with thirst once vainly dug with bleeding fingers in dry stream be beds or walked out on parched plains to lie down quietly and die kit carson would find lots of changes could he come back liften Lift lifting ln hair as be called indian scalping Is practiced now only in the beauty shops hops of towns along the trail it Is not easy now to trade beads or cheap firearms for hunks hucks of virgin silver in santa fe nor would the town cheer a mule driver arriving from missouri or call a holiday should a dry bonds gonds elixis peddler arrhe the ancient tree lined plaza w where here pioneer freighters ended their ion long trip across the plains and unloaded their big wagons Is still the center of 0 life in santa fe at evening time when mien soft breezes sigh among abo th trembling elm leaves the local fenorl tas tag dark eyed find flirtatious promenade this ancient plaza and smile to a ravishingly as in kit carsons romantic day put cut none of them would leave home now for or it a redheaded red headed beaver trapper even it if the trapper had bad licked every other rival at the fandango how the trail altered originally the trail ran upstream from franklin crossed the missouri at arrow rock and stretched west through what Is now lexington and independence mo A rich region this 3 where as settlers multiplied a vi vigorous culture developed with its familiar homemade walnut furniture ash hoppers big soap and sorghum kettles looms and spinning wheels today where washington irving saw myriad prairie chickens or par ro keets as pioneers called them one passes big pens of white Leg leghorns horns Em endless old trail garages take the place of wayside blacksmith shops where former pilgrims stopped to shoe a horse or set a tire where slaves tended hemp bemp and tobacco big dairy plants are busy now their painted barns and silos replacing the tobacco sheds of other days As commerce grew boats pushed farther up the missouri passing franklin by 1931 independence became the starting point for traffic across the plains plying the river then was one government owned boat used for exploring the western engineer an early narrative says in place of a bowsprit she has carved a great serpent and as the steam escapes out of its mouth month it runs out a long tongue to the perfect horror of the indians independence in its palmy days was the funnel through which westward travel poured from here went not only santa fe traders but mormon trains for utah and the thousands of covered wagons for the long oregon trail to the northwest wet in the western guide book and emigrant directory for 1849 1840 Is a rude map showing all the great overland trails as starting from independence te mo but the big blank spots pots on this map and its meager details reveal how little we knew of our western country only SO years ago birth of kansas city A few miles up from independence landing where the kansas ion long called the raw twists north into the missouri fur traders and freighters found a flat shelving rock an easy place to lanil land goods near here by I 1 1833 a new town westport came into bein being g in time it became the starting point poin t tor for santa fe gradually as merchants merchant IS and farmers followed the fur traders this colony spread through a gap in the bluffs and came to be known as kansas after the local tribe of indians incorporated as the town 0 f kansas in 1850 its name was changed to kansas city in 1889 southwest into kansas the old trail aral I 1 runs thence west along the north bank of the arkansas river which h formed part of the boundary between betwee n the united states and mexico until t the h war of 48 A few miles west of where dodge city stands the trail orl originally crossed the ri river V er at cimarron Cl marron crossing following the cimarron Cl marron valley over southwest kansas and on to las vegas new mexico but this road crossed many miles of waterless land and later pioneers blazed a longer but more watered path this latter branch became in time the main thoroughfare ough fare especially for wagons it t follows the arkansas river into colorado through la junta and trinidad thence over raton pass and to las vegas and santa fe today the S santa anta fe railway and the popular santa pe fe motor highway use this same route or of closely parallel it from franklin mo BIO to santa fe the old trail Is now well marked by monuments set up by the file daughters of the american revolution |