The Santa Fe Trail

Our destination on our last day in Dodge City was to explore a little bit farther afield than the town itself. We headed west on US 50 about nine miles from Dodge City to a marker and a trail that has been placed where the Santa Fe Trail came closest to the highway. We were between the Arkansas River, since the trail follows that river as much as possible.

This is definitely Kansas. A breeze is always blowing, generally from the north, and sometimes not so gentle. Storms can be seen approaching for miles, and the quiet of the great prairie is deafening. It was across these rolling hills that wagons (known as "freighters"), pulled by mules, horses, or oxen struggled east and west at the astounding pace of eighteen miles per day.

Hundreds of freight wagons laden with trade goods once lumbered past here. Large caravans took six to ten weeks to travel the 900 miles between New Mexico and Franklin, Missouri. It's difficult to make out, but the area in the center of the following photo shows the trail stretching out away from us. Between the light colored bushes on the left and the line of dark shadows on the right is the trail.

For 60 years, this prairie was torn by the hooves of animals and compacted by the weight of the wagons. The wagons ofttimes traveled four abreast to avoid dust and to quickly form defensive circles. They moved over when tracks became to deep of muddy, creating parallel tracks hundreds of yards wide. The shouts and cracks of the bullwhackers' whips, the rattling of the harness and wagons have been quieted. The depth of the ruts has dwindled due to wind and rain erosion, but their continued existence testifies to the thousands of people, wagons, and carriages that used this highway.

Stretching away to the left, the trail is just visible.

Continuing on to the village of Cimarron, then turning south toward Meade, we again saw hundreds of electricity producing wind machines. A continuing headline on the Wichita television stations tells of the local utility company charging residents who have installed solar or wind equipment for the use of the wire that is used to feed excess power back into the grid. What??? Have we been scammed?

In the hamlet of Meade, population 1,700 more or less. It is an agriculture center, with Co-op grain elevators standing tall in the center of town. Meade is also the location of the Dalton Gang Hideout. In 1886, a young woman named Eva Dalton arrived in Meade to establish a little shop where she made and sold lady's hats and "finery". She met John Whipple, a local merchant, and they were married in 1887, and moved into this cozy little home.

Eva's brother Emmett Dalton attended the wedding and other brothers arrived soon after. In the following years, news of the Dalton Gang's criminal episodes fed speculation about Eva's involvement with her brothers. The brothers activities made it impossible for the Whipples to remain in Meade, and in 1892, they quietly left town, abandoning their home. After they left, a 95-foot-long tunnel of dirt and wood beams was discovered leading from the house to a barn down the hill, the means by which Eva's outlaw brothers came and went undetected. Ironically, in October of 1892 the reign of lawlessness came to an end when the gang attempted to rob two banks at the same time in Coffeyville, Kansas. The only surviving brother, Emmett was sentenced to life in prison, but paroled after 14 years.

We've enjoyed out stay in Dodge City, with its flavor of the Old West. Just a short distance out of town, the quiet of the prairie is disturbed only by the constant wind. When the sparse auto traffic on Highway 50 runs on down the highway, hurrying to a distant destination, one can hear the voices of the past whispering, whispering.