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The landscape of Kansas is not all that different than the landscape of Nebraska. It seems a bit more varied than the oceans of cornfields and the cities of silos that seemed to define Nebraska, and as we approach the Missouri River the variety of the trails increases. In Nebraska most of the trails follow along one side or the other of the Platte River all the way into southeast Wyoming. The exception is the South Platte Trail which follows the route of the South Platte River rather than the route of the North Platte which was more popular. Also, the Pony Express Trail starts at Independence, Missouri, and connects with the other trails at Fort Kearny in Nebraska.
The trails in Kansas look more like a plate of spaghetti in the northeast section of the state. That is not too surprising since there were several different crossing points of the Missouri and once across the Missouri the trails take alternative routes to the same destination - the Platte. There are frequent markers along the roads we are on that which point out where the three major immigrant trails crossed the current paved road.
In Topeka we visit the Kansas History Center. This site houses two buildings of interest: The Kansas State History Museum and the Potawatomi Baptist Mission. The museum is a large building with exhibits detailing the history of the state. Of particular interest to me was the large doll house with amazing detail in the furnishings and decorations, and a train, consisting of the locomotive, tender car, and several passenger cars. The coal-burning locomotive is beautifully restored and looks like it is ready to join the frequent rail traffic we have seen on the plains of Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.
The Baptist Mission is a large stone building which served as a school house where the missionaries were trying to teach the Potawatomi children the ways of western cultures. A remnant of that effort is a native plant garden which seems to have fallen into disuse. The Museum has a lot of exhibits detailing the conflicts between the natives and the newly arriving settlers. IT was one thing for the immigrants heading west to pass through the areas where natives were living (perhaps relocated from areas tot he east), it was another for them to try to settle and claim land in the areas that the Natives Americans had either been given, or had which had been their historical hoe. One of the exhibits describes the efforts by General William Tecumseh Sherman, of Civil War and California fame, to move the Potawatomi tribe to Florida. Sherman was in charge of the army west of the Missouri after the Civil War. While he thought that the Native Americans were a serious threat, he also thought that many of the companies and settlers in the area were taking advantage of the presence of the Indians to try to make a profit by supplying the military protection they were asking for, but did not really need. At the same times, companies like Wells Fargo that held various government contracts for roads of other services were claiming, falsely according to Sherman, that the threats posed by the Indians were interfering with their ability to satisfy their contractual obligations. Sherman was trying to manage this complicated situation while, at the same time, making sure that the potential of conflicts with the Native Americans did not occur.
A quote attributed to Sherman in one of the displays is to the effect that it would be necessary to force the Potawatomies to move to Florida to teach them a lesson.
Our first stop as we leave Topeka in Olathe - the first stop of the pioneers as they crossed the Missouri to begin the trek west. The river crossing may have been arduous, but the first night looks to have been relaxing in a nice area with a single tree - an elm tree hence the name of the Lone Elm campground. A story we have seen suggests that not too long after the first crossing of the river in this location the lone elm was chopped down by travelers looking for a little fuel. So there is no longer a lone elm, but more trees and probably a nicer spot for camping that is was for most of the 1850s, at least.
We then proceed south on Interstate 35 to Gardner's Junction - where the Santa Fe and Oregon trails separate. The Santa Fe trail heads southwest through the western tip of the Oklahoma panhandle and on into New Mexico. The Oregon trail heads northwest toward the Platte. Or course, by the early days of the Oregon Trail, 1840 or so, the Santa Fe trail was well worn by traders who had traveled to and from Mexico beginning ion the 1820s after Mexico won its independence from Spain and trade restriction between the U.S. and Mexico were relaxed. As we were taking pictures at the marker for Gardner's Junction this huge piece of farm equipment was doing something in the surrounding field. I don't know if it was planting, tilling, plowing, or what. The field did not look much different to this city-boy's eye after the machine had passed over a section of the field that before.
We proceed from St. Mary's on in to Kansas City, Missouri. The trail guide book leads us to a city park in where there is now a swimming pool that is well populated on the warm June afternoon we are there. We wander around the area where a stone bridge crosses the river. We walked along the tail on the river bank and observed on the other side a residential neighborhood with yards with children's play sets and mowed lawns. I wonder of the people living there can image a line of wagons queued up to cross the river at that same location?
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