University Daily Kansan
Page 7
HIGHWAYS TO THE WEST—The two most famous trails of the pioneer period, both important in the early history of Kansas, were the Oregon Trail, the northern route shown here, and the Santa Fe Trail, the southern route. The sketch was made by Karen Hilmer, journalism junior.
Santa Fe Trail Famed Route to Old Southwest
By TOM SHANNON
And the Santa Fe caravan day started.
"Citizen ..."
"Fill up the water kegs!"
"Catch up!"
Breakfast pots and pans were thrown on the wagons and horses hitched.
"All set!"
The horses strained at their harnesses, the wagons creaked and lumbered forth.
"Stretch out!"
Everyone was ready to move. "Struth out!"
"Fall in!"
Wagons formed double columns so they could rapidly bend out and form a circle if Indians attacked.
The bluffs of Lawrence overlooked the Santa Fe trail a century ago.
Friday, March 26.1954
First a route of Indians, and later pioneer - explorers, trappers, and traders, the Santa Fe trail entered Douglas county near its southeast corner, a few miles east of Black Jack point, from where it took a northwesterly course through Palmyra, which later became a part of Baldwin, and then on to Willow Springs, about seven miles to the northwest. Here it turned to the southwest.
Traders found the going rough. They were attacked by bands of maudraising Indians and Spanish troops who guarded the border at the western foot of the Rocky mountain. Spain deeply resented the westward expansion of the United States. Merchants in Mexico City jealously guarded the lucrative closed market-monopoly in Santa Fe where they could fix prices without competition.
The first travelers from the East followed this old Indian path in finding the most practicable way to the Spanish settlement of Santa Fe, N.M. From 1903, shortly after the Louisiana purchase, these trail-blazers in their buckskins and fur caps, with their long rifles, made the trail their thoroughfare.
The people of the Spanish territory needed Yankee goods. Eastern businessmen sought the valuable furs and metals which New Mexico offered. Traders had to content themselves bartering with Indians. In 1821, fur-seeking William Beeckell ventured what he thought was too far into the Spanish territory when he saw a company of
Mid-Century Pioneers Trekked Oregon Trail
Ey LARRY BOSTON
A marker at the side of Lindley hall at the west end of the campus marks the spot where the Oregon trail once crossed the campus.
The Oregon trail began in Independence, Mo., and followed the Kaw river to Topeka, where it headed northwest to meet the Platte river, which it followed west across Nebraska. The trail angled northwest, eventually ending in Astoria, Ore., more than 2,000 miles from its point of origin in Independence.
There were as many as five alternate routes of the Oregon trail crossing Kansas. Only the southernmost of these passed through Lawrence. Others went as far north at St Joseph, Mo., before turning west. Probably the most frequently traveled route was the trail which led through Fort Leavenworth. All of these routes eventually converged just north of the Kansas line and north of what is now Marysville Kans.
The wagon trains which chose the Lawrence route followed the Kaw river from Independence until they reached Mt. Oread, the beginning of the range of hills extending westward. It was standard practice to travel on high ground, as it was easier traveling and safer from Indians. For this reason, the wagons climbed the hills as soon as they reached them.
The earliest travel of what was to become the Oregon trail was by
There is some disagreement as to whether most wagons came from the south side of the hills beginning with Mr. Oread or whether they took a route which followed the present Memorial drive. In either case, there is little doubt that the flow of travel was over the spot now covered by the marker.
Lewis and Clark in their expedition in 1804-05. They traveled up the Missouri river along the trail route from Independence to St. Joseph. They continued on up the river, but it was at St. Joseph that the northernmost route of the trail turns west.
The first heavy travel on the trail was during the gold rush of 1849. Travelers were anxious to get to California, and the Oregon trail, although roundabout, offered one of the easiest ways to get to the gold fields. As the gold fever died down, settlers moving into the northwest territory utilized the trail and in 1854, when Kansas was admitted as a territory, traffic on the road was still quite heavy.
As late as 1885 some wagons still moved west over the route, but the coming of the railroads in the 1860's wiped out most of the commercial freight traffic over the road. Later, homesteading of most of the northwestern land eliminated a need for such a trail
During its beyday, the Oregon trail sprouted towns along its path similar to those which later grew up along railroad right-of-ways. Towns which owe at least part of their early growth to the Oregon trail include Independence and St. Joseph, Mo.; Omaha and Kearny, Neb.; Casper and Ft. Bridger, Wye.; Twin Falls and Boise, Idaho, and Oregon City, Portland, and Astoria, Ore.
Since the trail was a natural highway, later road improvements tended to follow its path. US 30, which meets the old trail route east of Kearny, Neb., follows it throughout its entire length to Astoria, Ore. Other highways, such as US 26, US 40, and US 187 follow parts of the trail route.
Phineas Barnum Was 1800's Great Showman
By KAREN HILMER
The smell of animal-trodden sawdust, the trained monkeys and elephants, the chanting of the roustabouts, the acrobat perched precariously on top of a prancing white horse, the screams of a crowd—these are just a few of the things which characterized the life of a great showman, Phineas T. Barnum.
Not many people think about this man as they munch on popcorn or cotton candy and watch the trapeze artists perform their magnificent feats—he has become a legendary figure to most. Legendary, yes, to an extent, for as strange as it seems, there is not much substantial contemporary evidence about him in print, but he will never become a ghost in the minds of his successors!
This man who made the circus a part of everyone's life, from the very young to the aged, possessed the capacity to cope with the mean, the humble, and belligerant, and all who made up the gaudy, roaring masses. He dedicated his entire life to the crowds, driven by a fevered desire to satisfy and magnify the popular tastes of the day, to entertain, write, travel and create.
Born in the midst of Calvinism, Jeffersonian Democrats, Tories and cries of "tolerance," Barrum grew up with the battle cry of freedom constantly sounding from his oratory lips. He was enraged by deeds of oppression and he abhorred ecclesiastical domination which were so prevalent in his day. He dared have the audacity to uphold the scarcely respectable faith of Universalism—freedom from the church and the dominieing masters. As an outlet for his expoundings he used his own paper, which he named "Herald of Freedom," for which he was editor three years.
Barnum had a lusty ache for power, always trying to do something preposterous that would astound and amaze the public. Everything he did he found pleasure in—he lived a happy combination of making public appearances and pulling a joke. Some people would say that his whole life was one of enchantment, imagination, and fun—perhaps one could call it that but it was also a life of a powerful, urgent drive that would never relent. In the 1830's Barnum started his first traveling circus, such as it was. It consisted of an Italian plate-spinner and a stilt-walker, certainly not like the monstrous being that it is today. The profits were at a minimum as he and his small troupe journeyed through the New England states. The meager income did not discourage him, for the word "freedom" kept vibrating in his ears. He transferred his performers to Aaron Turner's small traveling circus and joined the company himself as a ticket-seller, treasurer, and part owner.
The church of the day did not sanction his conduct or business, and Barnum, being the man that he was, ascended the pulpit one day and delivered a speech in the defense of circuses—such effrontery! But even with this cross-fire, the circus failed to prosper.
Ferhaps one could call it rebellion or the love of opposition or the triumphant humbleness of the small traveling group that made Barnum decide to establish a circus of his own. He bought the entire circus from Turner which consisted of the plate-spinner, a clown, and a Negro breakdown dancer from the original
company and, equipped with a single wagon and a small tent, he started out on the journey again.
The small caravan was joined by Henry Hawley, a brilliant teller of tales and a sleight-of-hand performer who left his audiences gaping with astonishment. He was like Barnum in that he was well suited to run the rigors and hardships of the rough travel of a roustabout.
Barnum, with his thoughts of freedom, from the church and from oppressors, encountered staunch opposition from the New England public—opposition that made him rebel. He tried his last resort—the direct attack—and began delivering speeches in the form of religious or moral lectures of his own in groves, open fields, from the tail of his wagon.
After many tragic mishaps on the road, Barnum became disgusted with the life of an itinerant showman and made his feeling known. Yet in a few months he was again traveling with another crude little circus, enduring the same hardships and encountering the same religious resistance. These early tours of his covered about four or five years, every one packed full of gaping audiences drawn to his show by an irresistible attraction.
Being a man of great versatility, he went to New York, after giving up the idea of staying on the road, and sold illustrated Bibles, saying he had quit the life of a showman altogether and had finally settled down into a respectable calling. But at the same moment he had decided not to be a showman, he leased a saloon in New York City where he conducted semi-theatrical performances. This "Jekyll and Hyde" existence did not suit his personality, for on the one hand he was building up solid recommendations and on the other he was upon a gay and lively adventure.
With one of the sudden decisions that he was well known for, he decided to buy a museum near Broadway. Museums were respectable. In the midst of the bright and confused thoroughfare known as Broadway—today the Great White Way—his museum became the showiest place of all, with the huge gas lights that blazed at night up and down the street creating a flood of illumination. Filling it with all sorts of stuffed animals, ranging from the grotesque to the beautiful the museum was a success, awaing the public, young and old, just as the monsieur circus awes us today.
By the union of Barnum and Bailey the three-ring circus began to take shape to what it now is today—the shrill of whistles, the laughing clowns tumbling on the sidelines, the prank horses, the aerials strung high in the air. No other brilliance can replace the Big Top, no other music quite like that wonomus with the circus.
Barnum never lived to see the final triumph and outcome of that first little traveling circus—the Greatest Show. He died in 1891, leaving his magnitude, greatness and energy to the public.
troops bearing down upon him. As luck would have it, the "Mexican Empire" had just declared its independence from Spain. So instead of jail and confiscation of his stock, he found himself welcomed royalty. He reaped a tremendous harvest of Spanish gold doubloons in exchange for his goods.
News of Becknell's good fortune spread rapidly, and towns began springing up along the trail. Its starting point was first Franklin, Mo., some 150 miles west of St. Louis. After Franklin came Independence, then Westport—all these towns being on the Missouri river and thus easily reached during the season of navigation. Boats brought
goods up the river, and then covered wagons and pack trains took over.
In these towns were found motley crowds—traders, outfitters, dealers in supplies of all kinds, tourists, invalids hoping to regain their health by a trip on the plains, drivers, and roughs of all descriptions in abundance.
Every stretch of this long, gravedotted trail has its story of hardship, hunger, thirst, Indian attacks, stampedes, burned wagons, murdered men, and captured women. Traced through Kansas, the trail touches towns which did not exist when covered wagons used it.
It touches other spots too, like Black Jack, Pawnee Rock, Fort
Dodge, and Cimarron Crossing, all famous in its history. It was at Black Jack that John Brown led his Free Staters against the Missourians. It was back from Lawrence that Quantrill and his Missouri guerrillas retreated after their historic raid on that town.
The distance from Independence to Santa Fe was 897 miles, half of which was in Kansas. The starting time of the caravans was in the spring, and the time of the downward journey ranged from 50 to 80 days.
The Army of the West, 1,700 strong under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, marched over the Santa Fe trail, starting in June 1846 to fight Mexico
and eventually to conquer California. Three years later a different kind of army—the California gold-seekers of 1849—traveled over the trail.
The trail was pushed out of existence in 1872 when the railroad replaced it. In 1907, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected permanent markers along the trail. A stone was placed one-half mile north of the city of Baldwin by Lawrence and Ottawa DAR chapters.
Today the Santa Fe railroad follows the trail's convolution in its route to the Southwest. U.S. Highway 50 from Kansas City to La Junta, Colo., parallels the trail with considerable fidelity.