University Daily Kansan Monday. April 17, 1963
The Santa Fe Trail: Artery for Trade
—Kansan map by Tom Eaton
By Lynn Cheatum
"Buffalo Bill" Cody once remarked of the Santa Fe Trail, "Along its whole route the remains of men, animals and the wrecks of camps and wagons told a story of suffering, robbery and outrage more impressive than any language."
He said this in 1897, recalling the tribulations and dangers of travel on the famous trail.
He added:
"THE ONLY METHOD of travel was by the slow freight caravan drawn by patient oxen, or the lumbering stagecoach with its complement of four to six mules. There was ever to be feared an attack by those devils of the desert, the Cheyennes, Comanches and Kiowas."
In contrast to the popular Hollywood conception of the whizzing stagecoach, the coaches rarely whizzed. Because of the cramped quarters within, the passengers occasionally got out and trotted along beside the vehicle. It was not uncommon to ride through herds of buffalo that extended without a break for 100 miles.
Stagecoach fare for the 800-mile ride from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe. N. M., cost $250 in gold. A coach left monthly.
The route was a natural one, following the tracks of antelope and deer, whose instincts led them to the lowest pass through the mountainous portion of the route.
Although the Oregon trail had been a route of conquest, the Santa Fe trail was primarily a trade route. In its first year, 1822, trade amounted to about $15,000. Trade volume reached a half million dollars in the 1840s and ran into many millions yearly before the railroad became a factor.
TRADE PROFITS were the life blood of the trail from the start. In 1822 William Becknell, called "the father of the Santa Fe trail," made the first successful commercial round trip, returning with tales of
his adventures and profits. Excited listeners invested $5,000 in his second trip, and wagons were used instead of pack animals.
The 30-man caravan's progress was uneventful until, at a spot near Dodge City, Becknell decided to go cross-country through unexplored lands. He wanted to avoid the rough mountain road.
But he got in serious trouble.
Supposing the water supply to be plentiful, the party took only enough water for a few days. The men and animals soon were so desperate for liquid that they killed the dogs of the caravan and drank their blood. They even tapped the ears of the mules for liquid.
The group would have perished except that a buffalo appeared, just having returned from getting a long drink at the Cimarron River, which lay a short distance ahead of the unsuspecting party. The buffalo was slain, and the party drank its blood.
THE GROUP SURVIVED the short cut, but later travelers wisely chose the route 100 miles longer, through Colorado.
A few years later Sen. Benton of Missouri obtained a $30,000 appropriation from Congress to protect the trail. The appropriation was split two ways, with 20,000 devoted to setting up trail markers and $10,000 to be paid to Indians as a bribe to secure safe passage. The Osage Indians received the first $800 payment at Council Grove in 1825.
Some of the old markers, mounds of mud, stood for more than a century. It was impossible to use wooden signposts, as the prairies were treeless. Rocks were not practical for markers except near river banks. The Old Trails Assn. has put up modern signposts telling the m'leage and marking the route.
The historic route saw its heyday in the middle 1800s, but the stagecoach became obsolete when the Atchison, Topcka & Santa Fe Railroad joined the West with the East in 1880.
Watson's Lawrence Room一
(Continued from page 6) approve, leads me to present this to the library."
THERE ARE many memories of Gov. Charles Robinson, first governor of Kansas; a six-shooter from one of Quantrill's men; a "Beecher's Bible," rifle, and the Old Sacramento cannon.
The Lawrence Room had its beginning in 1927 when Prof. F.W. Blackmar, executor of the Robinson estate, gave KU many historical relics.
Since that time Lawrence residents have donated many more items. There are items dating back to the very beginning of Lawrence in 1854.
MISS CARRIE M. Watson, for whom the library was named, was instrumental in the founding of the Lawrence Room.
Miss Neiswanger is proud of the room, but said, "We need more room. We have to turn things down every day. Gen. Fraser's (first chancellor of the University) Civil War uniform and gun are stuck away downstairs. We don't have room to display everything.
Miss Laura Neiswanger, librarian of the Kansas collection at Watson, is now in charge.
Miss Mary Maud Smelser, who died last year, carried on Miss Watson's work after the latter's death in 1943.
"What we really need is a museum for the University's history, a separate room or building. We have a lot of very nice things."
She pointed to a desk and a chair, "Like this desk and chair that belonged to Chancellor Snow. We really don't have room for it up here."
Chisholm Led Indian Tribe to Wichita
But soon the railroad moved farther west, and Wichita began to quiet down, although it continued
(Continued from page 4) amusement palaces dotted its streets. The city resounded with the roar of the six-gun and the shouts of cowboys released from the hardships of the trail.
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its pattern of steady growth. Street-lamps, telephones, natural gas, city water, and the other trappings of big-town life came to the city on the prairie.
THE CITY GREW from the turn of the century and became the largest in the state.
Today Wichita is the location of Beech, Boeing and Cessna aircraft manufacturing plants, and a major meat-packing, oil-producing and refining center. But many of those who hold affection for the city and have traced its past, prefer the simpler appellation of days gone by — Cow Town.