A Moment in Time

"On the Santa Fe Trail"

January 1996
By Ron Parks and Sharon Haun

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

On September 1, 1821, Captain William Becknell and a party of traders left Arrow Rock, Missouri, to trade horses and mules with the Indians and hunt wild game on the plains. The expedition met a troop of Mexican soldiers in November and traveled with them to Santa Fe, where they were greeted warmly. Their trade goods, including calico and other printed cloth, sold at high prices in the isolated Spanish town. The Becknell party returned to Missouri on January 30, 1822, after only 48 days travel. Profits from the expedition were so high that other trading ventures were organized almost immediately. Thus began the lucrative trade along the Santa Fe Trail.

Nearly 175 years after Becknell's expedition, the Kansas Historical Society is planning a celebration of the Santa Fe Trail's anniversary. Together with the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Society is sponsoring a summer program series on the trail's eventful history in Kansas.

The series features programs on 42 consecutive nights, beginning at a site in Prairie Village on Kansas' eastern border. Each subsequent evening's program moves 15 miles further west to a trail campsite, simulating the westward movement of a wagon caravan. The programs deal with different aspects of trail history and take place at many of the remaining trail ruts in Kansas.

Almost half the trail's 800-mile length crossed present-day Kansas. It also passed through portions of Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Unlike the Oregon Trail, which also cut across Kansas but was a highway for settlers, the Santa Fe Trail's traffic was mostly traders and the military. The Santa Fe Trail was an active military road during the War with Mexico (1846-1848) and afterwards served as a supply route for military posts in New Mexico and Arizona Territories. In addition to traders' caravans, stage and mail lines often followed the trail and set up stations along the route. The completion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to Santa Fe in 1880 ended the trail's reign in the West.

Historians note over 130 trail-related sites along the Kansas portion of the Santa Fe Trail, including segments of trail ruts, campgrounds, forts, trading posts, battle sites, and burials. Seven Kansas trail sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and twenty more are in the process of being nominated.

Programs in the 1996 summer series will be held at many of these locations, including state historic sites managed by the Society--Shawnee Mission near Kansas City, Kaw Mission in Council Grove, and Pawnee Rock near Great Bend.

Trail history, walking tours of trail ruts, wagon rides, and programs on trail personalities are just a few of the programs being offered in communities along the trail. Forts Dodge, Larned, and Zarah are three military sites where programs are scheduled.

All events in the Santa Fe Trail program series are free and open to the public (there may be a charge for meals where available). For more information on trail anniversary activities in your area, call the local Chamber of Commerce.

The Kansas History Center is operated by the Kansas Historical Society at 6425 S.W. Sixth Avenue in Topeka. The complex includes the Center for Historical Research, the Kansas Museum of History, and the Stach School. For more information on the Kansas History Center's programs or collections call 785-272-8681; TTY 785-272-8683.