NHT Auto Tour Guides

National Trails System Office Intermountain Region National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior National Historic Trails Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri Through Northeastern Kansas “Westport Landing” — by William Henry Jackson Courtesy—William Henry Jackson Collection at Scotts Bluff National Monument . R Driving directions to the sites are provided from major highways and nearby towns. To follow overland trail routes between sites, follow the Auto Tour Route highway signs. Generally, local brochures and guides are also available. Entrance and parking fees may be charged at some locations, and hours may vary at the discretion of site administrators. Large groups are encouraged to make prior arrangements for tours, where tours are available. Please respect private property by staying in public areas, and help protect our national heritage by leaving trail resources undisturbed. National Trails System Office 324 South State Street, Suite 200 P.O. Box 45155 Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0155 Auto Tour Route oadside Auto Tour Route signs mark the general routes of the Oregon, California, and Pony Express national historic trails through western Missouri and northeast Kansas. Actual wagon wheel ruts, emigrant camps, Pony Express stations, and other places of interest can be visited at the sites listed in this guide. Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI ON THEIR OWN T N he story of the American West is not simply a tale of pioneer courage and vision—of prairie schooners swaying westward to the strains of heroic music. Rather, it is a complex weave of plots and subplots, of romance and religion, of politics and money, and of personal and national tragedy. Traces of the people, livestock, and wooden wheels that were part of those stories can still be found on the landscape. There are traces, too, of native peoples whose lives were changed by emigration. This guide will provide descriptions of the historic places where wagon wheels cut into soft stream banks and over rolling prairie, where lonely trailside graves lie, where missionary outposts were established for Native Americans, and where Pony Express stations were, and more. Pioneers gathered to prepare for their journey at Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri. From there, they would embark across the wide and muddy Missouri River into a strange, windswept land of unfamiliar wonders—and dangers. ot fit for farming, too windswept and exposed to attract homesteaders, the “Great American Desert” that unrolled west of the Missouri River was seen as landscape to be crossed on the way to a better place. That crossing, travelers of the mid-19th century knew, was, by turn, exhausting and exhilarating, and tedious and terrifying. Emigrants’ excitement and anxiety mounted as they prepared to launch their ox-drawn prairie schooners from St. Joseph and Independence, Missouri, bustling river ports at the frontier’s edge. To them, the great, gray ribbon of the Missouri was the western shore of civilized society. Once their wagons rolled off the ferry onto the Kansas side, emigrants embarked into unfamiliar country—trespassers on Indian lands, and beyond the protection of the government. On the trail, there were no markets, no hospitals, no laws, and no second chances. From there until they reached trail’s end some 2,000 miles later, the pioneer emigrants were on their own. Here we were, without law, without order, and without restraint; in a state of nature, amid the confused, revolving fragments of elementary society! Some were sad, while others were merry; and while the brave doubted, the timid trembled! —Lansford W. Hastings, . . . . I, like every other pioneer, love to live over again, in memory those romantic months, and revisit, in fancy, the scenes of the journey. —Catherine Haun, —California emigration of 1849 In the winter of 18 and 46 our neighbor got hold of Fremont’s History of California and . . . . brought the book to my husband to read, & he was carried away with the idea [of emigrating] too. I said O let us not go! —Mary Jones, —California emigration of 1846 Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas DANGER, DEATH, AND DISAPPOINTMENT M ost emigrants lived in fear of Indian attack. Rumors of—even hoaxes about—trailside massacres drifted back to Eastern newspapers, and many travelers packed a virtual arsenal to protect themselves on the road. For the most part, though, their fears were unfounded. Historians conclude that more Indian people than emigrants were killed in clashes along the Oregon and California trails. A more serious threat to those gathering at the congested jumping-off places along the Missouri River was a mysterious killer that could neither be seen nor fought: cholera. In the mid-19th century, no one realized that this virulent and painful intestinal infection was caused by bacteria. Spread unknowingly from waterhole to waterhole by sick travelers, the disease dogged emigrants from the Missouri trailheads to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, some 600 miles down the road. Many died before even crossing the river into Kansas—active and well at breakfast, and in the grave by noon. There were many more worries, too. Accidents, emigrants knew, were common on the way West. Heavy wagons crushed children who slipped beneath their iron-clad wheels; men were killed in gun accidents, often by their own hand; and women died from complications of pregnancy while on the trail. People and irreplaceable livestock were swept away during treacherous river crossings, and some perished in terrifying summer thunderstorms that stabbed the plains with lightning. And of course, the sufferings of the Donner Party, trapped by early snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1846, must have weighed heavily on the minds of many travelers who followed their wheel-ruts toward the Pacific. To avoid the fate of the Donner Party, emigrants outfitted themselves carefully before leaving Missouri. They preferred lightweight farm wagons over heavy Conestogas, and most hitched up sturdy oxen to take them safely across countless river fords and rugged mountains. They chose foods that would keep—flour, bacon, rice, beans, sugar, coffee—and just enough of those to see them through four to six months of travel. They packed the tools and hardware they would need to replace fractured wagon axles, shoe oxen, dig out of mud holes, cook meals, and build shelter. Prudent travelers left behind most of their personal belongings, including books, furnishings, heirloom china, and cherished mementos, to spare their draft animals the extra weight. The success of the trip depended on it. If the cattle started flagging, the contents of the wagon would be tossed out along the road: sometimes, the wagon itself might be cut down to make a simple cart. The loss of oxen could force travelers to turn back for Missouri on foot. Some emigrants, in fact, turned back by choice, even after reaching Oregon or California. Their “Promised Land,” it seems, was less than they had dreamed. With all the uncertainties, why did people set out at all? Adventure, wanderlust, gold fever, hunger for land, escape from debt or prejudice or legal problems, a fresh start under a new name—all were compelling motivations. And, in fact, the emigrant death rate on the trail was no worse than that of eastern cities, where disease and poverty ran rampant. Hope wrestled with fear as Americans started out across the Kansas prairies—and hope generally won out. The heart has a thousand misgivings, and the mind is tortured with anxiety, and often as I passed the fresh made graves I have glanced at the side boards of the wagons, not knowing how soon it would serve as a coffin for some one of us. —Lucy R. Cooke, —California emigration of 1852 “Emigrants Crossing the Plains” - Library of Congress. Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE POLITICS AND MANIFEST DESTINY N E ative Americans also harbored hopes and fears as they watched the swelling tide of foreign humanity and hungry livestock surge into their territory. For centuries before Western emigrant trails—or even the United States—were established, native societies had been disrupted by the introduction of European diseases, horses, and weaponry. Eastern tribes displaced by European settlers pressed westward, pushing other tribes out of their native farmlands and hunting grounds, and onto the plains. By the 1820s, the U.S. government began forcibly removing Indian people from their homes to make room for settlers, eventually relocating over 10,000 people from more than 20 East Coast and Ohio Valley tribes to “Indian Territory” west of the Missouri River. When emigrant wagons rolled westward out of St. Joseph and Independence between 1841 and 1869, they passed the reservations of Eastern tribes such as the Shawnees, Delawares, Sauks and Foxes, Kickapoos, Wyandots, and Potawatomis. Those reservations, in turn, were carved out of the original homelands of the Kanza (also called Kaw) and Osage peoples. migration pressed on, in part because of the dreams and desires of individual pioneers, and in part because of continental politics. The United States was as yet a young nation, and ambitious. Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase in 1803 had roughly doubled the size of his country, adding 800,000 square miles of territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Great Britain, however, continued to control the continent west of the Rockies; and Mexico ruled California, which then included most of the Southwest. Americans wanted these lands for the United States. Many claimed that such was God’s plan—the Manifest Destiny of the nation. The flow of Americans across international boundaries into California and Oregon in the 1840s set that plan in motion. War and the threat of war then made it a reality: Britain gave up Oregon in 1846, and Mexico was forced to cede California to the United States in 1848. Discovery of gold in California the winter of 1848 triggered a frantic new rush to the West in the following spring. As trains of wagons moved over their land and camped by their springs, the Indian residents of eastern Kansas often offered assistance and shared their resources. They returned lost livestock, sold fresh vegetables, carried mail, and pulled wagons from the mud and ferried them across streams. Tragically, the travelers sometimes left behind more than wagon ruts and trade goods as they continued on their way: cholera, smallpox, measles, and other infectious diseases spread from the emigrant camps into Indian communities, taking many more lives. The Indians have all left the road at every settlement contiguous to the roadside, on account of the cholera. I noticed at Bull creek, Kaw river and Willow springs . . . . that they had all run off, and left their houses and gardens, with vegetables growing, to the mercy of travelers. We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with us, and no earthly power can. —“Veni,” —correspondent to New York Daily Tribune Supplement, 1849 Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. White men tell us we will be driven out . . . . but we like this place and want to stay. —Is-ta-la-she, Kanza Chief, 1863 . . . . You whites treat us Kan-zey like a flock of turkeys. You chase us to one stream, then you chase us to another stream, soon you will chase us over the mountains and into the ocean. —Al-le-ga-wa-ho, Kanza Chief, 1872 —John L. O’Sullivan, —newspaper editor who later coined the term “Manifest Destiny”, 1839 —John L. O’Sullivan, 1845 Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas IN A RECORD TEN DAYS’ TIME SEA OF GRASS, WAVES OF GRAIN A D s settlement continued, a distinctive frontier culture began to evolve, and differences in politics, ideals, and ways of life wedged a crack between East and West. The crack was widened by slow communications in the days before telephones and telegraphs. Legal instruments, financial documents, news dispatches, and love letters, alike, took an agonizing 20 days to cross the continent by coach from St. Joseph to Sacramento. William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Bradford Waddell already in the freighting business, proposed a solution: a fleet of over 500 fast horses and 80 brave young riders to literally run the mail between California and Missouri. The first team dashed out of Pony Express headquarters at St. Joseph’s Patee House on April 3, 1860. They ferried across the Missouri, and galloped westward with the mail toward the next waiting rider. Each successive horseman would ride at breakneck speed for nearly 6 hours, changing to a fresh horse every 10 miles, and finally passing his mochila (mail pouch) saddlebags to the next rider some 60 miles down the road. In that way, the post would be relayed from St. Joseph, across the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento in a record 10 days’ time—sometimes even less. Weekly runs would be made in both directions. The scheme worked, setting a new standard for transportation and communication in the development of the frontier. It connected East to West, and carried some of the century’s most urgent news dispatches across the continent. Even so, the Pony Express shut down after just 19 months of operation. Money problems, worsened by frequent Indian attacks on Pony Express stations and riders, plagued the enterprise— and then the Civil War erupted. Completion of the transcontinental telegraph in October 1861 struck the final blow, making the pony relay obsolete. uring the covered wagon era, the West Coast had filled with settlers, bringing statehood to California in 1850 and to Oregon nine years later. Settlement of Kansas lagged behind that of the coastal states, but land-hungry pioneers quickly recognized that its windswept grasslands were much more than barren “desert.” The rich soils that had supported Indian gardens for centuries could be as easily carpeted with domesticated grasses—wheat, oats, barley, corn—as with wild bluestem and buffalo grass. Settlers began leaving the trails to homestead on the prairie, often illegally “squatting” on Indian reserves. Settlement surged in 1854, as pro- and anti-slavery groups competed to sway the newly established Kansas Territory to their own side of the slavery debate. Continuing improvements in farming tools and practices drew more emigrants to the prairie through the years. By the early 1870s, many Indian tribes—including the Kanza, for whom the state is named—had been forced out of Kansas and relocated in Oklahoma. These, and other stories, have shaped the legacy of the overland trails. ...The Nimehaw river [is] the most beautiful spot that ever I saw in my life I would like to live here As far as the eye can reach either way lay grass and flowers meets the eye until you reach the valley of the river which is as level as the house floor. . . . —Lydia Allen Rudd, —Oregon emigration of 1852 . . . . A horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling—sweeping toward us nearer and nearer—growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined— nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to the ear—another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our [stagecoach], a wave of the rider’s hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm! Frederic Remington’s “Coming & Going of the Pony Express.” —Mark Twain, —1861 stage trip to California, in Roughing It Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS O ver time, the myth of the “Great American Desert”— that vast sea of grass—has faded into obscurity. The first leg of a transcontinental journey, last to be settled, is now part of America’s heartland. Many traces of the old Kansas/Missouri gateway to the American West are still visible. Some traces are commemorated with parks, monuments, museums, and visitor centers; others are only highway pullouts near isolated grave markers, wagon swales through creek beds, and scatters of adobe and melted glass where a mail station once stood. In some places, today’s traveler can see protected patches of original tallgrass prairie, sites of native villages, and landmarks, mounds, and springs that marked the slow progress of travelers 150 years ago. Historic trails, recognized by Congress under the National Trails System Act, identify the prominent past routes of migration, trade, communication, and military action. What remains today are primarily remnant sites and trail segments of these onceprominent roads to the West. In the early days of this nation, before railroads and highways were constructed, people traveled on foot, on horseback, by boat, or by wagon. Some of these trails remain in existence today as reminders of this diverse historic past. Stories of the Oregon Trail . . . and others bring to mind exiciting and sometimes tragic chapters in our national heritage. Ox Yoke—used on teams of oxen pulling emigrant wagons—forced the team to pull together equally. Circa 1840s. Out in Oregon I can get me a square mile of land . . . . Dad burn me, I am done with this country, Winters it’s frost and snow to freeze a body; summers the overflow from Old Muddy drowns half my acres; taxes take the yield of them that’s left. What say, Maw, it’s God’s country. —Peter Burnett, —Oregon emigration of 1843 —National Trails System Map and Guide, GPO - Reprint 1998. In the first place they have no bees there [in Oregon]; and in the second place, they can’t raise corn, and whar they can’t raise corn they can’t raise hogs, and whar they can’t raise hogs they can’t have bacon, and I’m going back to old Missouri whar I can have corn bread, bacon and honey! —“Grant,” a back-traveler on the Oregon Trail, to Ralph C. Greer, —Oregon emigration of 1847. Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas SITES AND POINTS OF INTEREST INDEPENDENCE, M ISSOURI TO H ANOVER , K ANSAS 1. National Frontier Trails Museum (318 W. Pacific, Independence, MO) offers a trails museum, theater, research library, and bookstore (with detailed trail guides available for purchase). Open Mon.The National Frontier Trails Sat., 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.; Center. Sun. 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Directions: From I-70 in Independence, take Exit 12 to Noland Road northbound and drive approximately 3 miles. Turn west onto E. Walnut Street and continue five blocks to Osage Street. Turn south on S. Osage Street to W. Pacific Avenue; then turn west. Center is on north side of street. 2. Upper Independence Landing (E. Kentucky Road and N. River Boulevard, Independence, MO) was the Missouri River landing closest to Independence for emigrants arriving at the jumping-off point via steamboat. Public access to an overlook above the river is provided by Lafarge Cement Company, which owns the site. Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, MO, take I-435 north toward Des Moines. Take Exit 59 east onto U.S.-24, Winner Road. After approximately three miles, at the traffic light on the west end of the Turman Library, turn north onto N. River Boulevard, which follows the old trail route from the landing. In approximately 1.5 miles, the road splits at Kentucky Road; keep to left on River Boulevard. At next split, where the Wayne City marker is located, continue on the main road north toward the cement plant. Continue about a block, to the gravel turnaround. Overlook is on the embankment. 3. Independence Courthouse Square (Lexington Avenue and Liberty Street, Independence, MO) is the official start of the Oregon Trail, where wagons were outfitted through much of the Courthouse at Independence emigration era. Open Square. year-round; business hours vary. Directions: From I-70 in Independence, take Exit 12 to Noland Road northbound and drive approximately 3 miles. Turn west onto E. Walnut St.; then north onto Liberty and continue 2 blocks to Lexington Street. Several emigration-era buildings are located one block north, along Maple Street. 5. Rice-Tremonti Home (8801 E 66th Street, Raytown, MO) is an 1844 farmhouse with an associated 1830s-era slave cabin. It is mentioned by many Oregon and Californiabound diarists as a popular campsite and a The Rice-Tremonti home was a popular campsite area for trail place where they could emigrants. purchase food. The property owner offers public access, interpretation, tours, and events. Open May-Sept., Sat. & Sun. only. Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, MO, take ramp to I-435 southbound toward Wichita. Continue 3.2 miles to Exit 66 and take ramp onto MO-350 (Blue Pky) eastbound toward Lee’s Summit. Continue 1.7 miles and turn right onto ramp toward Blue Ridge Boulevard; drive one-tenth mile and turn north onto Blue Ridge Boulevard, which follows the original Oregon Trail route from Independence Square. Continue for three-tenths mile to Rice-Tremonti Home. 6. Eighty-Fifth & Manchester Ruts (7558 E 85th Street, Kansas City, MO) are the grassed-over evidence of three trails, which is rare in an urban setting. The ruts are on private property maintained by the Cave Spring Amid the busy streets of Kansas Association, which City, emigrant wagon ruts have been preserved. permits public access. Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, take I-435 south toward Wichita. Continue 6.8 miles and take Exit 69 to 87th Street; turn east on 87th. Drive one mile; turn north onto Oldham Road. Drive three-tenths mile and turn east onto E. 85th. Drive two-tenths mile to Manchester Avenue. The Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails cut through a corner of 85th and Manchester. 7. Schumacher Park (6601 E. 93rd 4. Santa Fe Trail City Park (2900 S. Santa Fe Road, Independence, MO) is a 45-acre park preserving one-quarter mile of ruts and swales. Directions: From I-70 in Independence, take Exit 11 to U.S.-40 eastbound. Continue one-half mile and bear east onto E. 43rd Street S., then immediately turn north onto S. Crysler Avenue. Drive 1.6 miles and turn east onto W. 31st Street S. Turn north onto S. Santa Fe Road, continue for one-third mile, and turn east into the park. Continue for two-tenths mile; the road will curve to the south. Before completing the curve, watch for a grove of trees in a depression to the right. A remnant of original trail goes through the grove. Emigrant wagon wheel ruts run the length of the property at the Santa Fe Trail Park. Street, Kansas City, MO) offers interpretive wayside exhibits near an undefined trail route planted in native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Although the park has no evidence of ruts or swales, it does provide a good example of how the Kansas prairie Schumacher Park interpretive exhibits shelter. Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas appeared to 19th century emigrants. Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, take I-435 south toward Wichita. Drive 6.8 miles; at Exit 69, turn east on E. 87th Street. Drive three-tenths mile and turn south onto Hillcrest Road. Drive eight-tenths mile and turn east onto E 93rd. Continue for five-tenths mile to the park. 8. Hart Grove / Marion Park (Interchange of I-435, I470, & U.S.-71, Kansas City, MO) was used as a campground by travelers on the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trails. Exhibits include Interpretive exhibits along Hart interpretive panels and Grove Creek. stone markers delineating the trail corridor along Hart Grove Creek. Directions: From I-435, exit and go west on Bannister Rd. (a mall is just east of this intersection). At the second light, turn south on Marion Park, then turn west on Hickman Mills; continue one block to the park. Open daylight hours. 9. Minor Park/Blue River Crossing (Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, MO) is a 27-acre city park that preserves the most dramatic swales at this end of the trail. The site was a principal river crossing, mentioned in many diaries through the Minor Park swales where emigrant wagons gathered to 1840s and 1850s. (An cross the Blue River. original wagon ford was located 300 yards north of the bridge.) Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, take I-435 South for 11.4 miles. Take Exit 74, and turn south onto Holmes Road, continuing to intersection with Red Bridge Road. Turn east on Red Bridge Road. Drive approximately 1 mile and turn right at the second Minor Park entrance; park in the south-facing lot. Several swales and a historic marker are nearby. 10. New Santa Fe (State Line Road and Old Santa Fe Trail, Kansas City, MO) is an 1840s village site where thirsty emigrants could purchase their last whiskey before entering Indian Territory and wagons could be repaired at the The village cemetery is all that blacksmith shop. A remains of this formerly bustling cemetery with faint trail community. swales, privately owned by the New Santa Fe Cemetery Association, is all that remains of the village. Directions: From I-70 in Kansas City, take I-435 south toward Wichita and continue 11.4 miles to Exit 74. Exit the highway and turn south onto Holmes Road. Drive for 2.1 miles to intersection with Old Santa Fe Trail Road. Turn west. Follow the road as it curves west for 1.2 miles. The cemetery site with historic markers is 0.1 miles east of State Line Road. 11. Westport Landing (terminus, N. Main, Kansas City, MO) is where many eastern emigrants ended the first leg of their journey, via riverboat, and launched preparations for their long overland haul. Site Westport Landing as depicted provides an overview of by artist, Wm. Henry Jackson in the Missouri River and 1850. the original landing, interpretive signs, and a walking/biking trail. Open daylight hours. Directions: From I-70 westbound in Kansas City, MO, take Exit 2D toward Main-Delaware/Wyandotte Street. Road will merge onto Independence Avenue; move to right lane and turn north onto Delaware Street. Turn east on Third Street, then north on Main Street and drive one block to pedestrian bridge. 12. Pioneer Park (traffic island at Westport Road & Broadway, Westport, MO), is an interpretive site that includes 18’ terrazzo map of trails, exhibit signs, and sculpture. Open daylight hours. Directions: From Kansas City, MO, take I-35 southbound toward Wichita for 1.4 miles. Take the Southwest Trafficway exit (No. 1-A, on the left) merge onto the trafficway, and drive approximately 1.5 miles. Turn east onto 39th St., continue a short distance and then turn south onto Broadway approximately 3-4 blocks to Westport Road. Park is at north end of traffic island. 13. Moses Grinter House and Ferry (1420 South 78th St, Kansas City, KS) was the site of an 1831 ferry established by Moses Grinter to carry emigrant wagons over the Kansas River. The Grinter Place State Historic Site is open with limited hours. Call 913-299-0373 for further information. Directions: From Kansas City, KS, head southbound on I-435. At Exit 9, take the ramp to KS-32/Kansas City/Bonner Springs. Turn east onto KS-32 (Kaw Dr.) Continue 1.9 miles and turn north onto S. 78th St. Drive 0.1 mile to Grinter Place (on the west side). 14. Shawnee Methodist Mission (Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, 3403 West 53 rd, Fairway, KS) is a 12acre state park and National Historic Landmark that preserves 1954 painting by Jim Hamil of a Methodist mission, Shawnee Methodist Mission. established in 1839 for the instruction of Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian children. Also a popular overland trail campground. Although the buildings are temporarily closed for restoration, the grounds remain open Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sun. 1-5 p.m.; tours available. Call 913-262-0867 for further information. Directions: From I-35 in Kansas City, KS, take Exit 233 to Mission Road/Southwest Boulevard. Turn south onto Mission Road and continue for two miles; turn west onto 53rd Street. Continue two-tenths mile to Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site. Interpretive Auto Tour Western Missouri - Northeast Kansas 15. Prairie Village Ruts (Prairie View Park, 7727 Delmar, Prairie Village, KS) is a four-acre city park with shallow wagon swales and interpretive signs. Directions: From I-35 in Kansas City, KS, take the 232BC exit onto 18th Street Expressway southbound and drive approximately four miles. The road name changes to W. Roe Boulevard and then to Roe Avenue. Turn east onto W. 75 th Street and continue two-tenths mile, and then south onto Delmar Street for three-tenths mile to Prairie View Park. Turn left into the park. Ruts are southeast of the covered pavillion. 16. Flat Rock Creek Crossing/Park (103rd Street and Hauser, Lenexa, KS) commemorates an emigrant campground used by Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trail travelers. Site includes interpretive signs and original creek crossing. City park, open daylight hours. Directions: From Kansas City, KS, take I-35 southbound approximately eight miles toward Lenexa, KS. Take the 95th Street Exit (No. 224) and turn west onto W 95th Street. Drive approximately one-half mile and turn south onto Pflumm Road. Continue for one mile and turn east onto W. 103rd Street for a short distance to Hauser Street. 17. Lone Elm Campground (167th and Lone Elm, Olathe, KS) is where many Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trail travelers spent their first night Lone Elm Campground. west of the Missouri. Now, a 160-acre city park encompasses the wagon trail corridor and campground. Open daylight hours. Directions: From Kansas City, KS, drive I-35 southbound to exit 215. Take US-169 S/ K-7 south toward Paola, and continue for 2.16 miles. Turn west onto 167th Street (portions unpaved) and continue approximately one mile to park. 18. Parting of the Trails (N. Elm and E. Shawnee, Gardner, KS) is where the Oregon and Santa Fe trails split. The approximate location of the site is indicated by a historical marker, though no physical traces of the junction remain. A roadside park on U.S.-56 provides interpretive information. Directions: From I-35 in Olathe, drive south and take Exit 210 to U.S.-56 and Gardner. Turn west onto U.S.-56 and continue through Gardner. The roadside park is near the junction of U.S.56 and 183rd Street, on the west side of the highway. 19. Potawatomi Baptist Mission (Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS) operated from 1847 to 1861, and was a boarding school for children of the Potawatomi Indians, an eastern tribe that was Former Potawatomi Baptist relocated to Kansas in Mission building pictured on the 1830s. Site is near a the right. branch of the OregonCalifornia Trail. Includes original building, museum exhibits, and mission-period classroom. (Kansas Museum of History also on site — see following entry.) Open Tue. - Fri., 10a.m.-4p.m.; third Sat. of month, 10a.m.-4p.m.; third Sun. of month 1p.m.-4p.m. Group tours by appointment. Admission fee. Directions: From I-70 westbound in Topeka, take Exit 356 and turn north onto Wannamaker. Drive one-tenth mile and turn west onto SW Sixth Avenue. Follow signs to Kansas History Center and the mission. 20. Kansas Museum of History (Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS) offers exhibits on trails, forts, and Native American History. (Potawatomi Mission also on site — see previous entry.) Open Tue. - Sat. Kansas Museum of History. 9a.m.-5p.m. and Sun. 1p.m. - 5p.m. Admission fee. Directions: From I-70 westbound in Topeka, take Exit 356 and turn north onto Wannamaker. Drive one-tenth mile and turn west onto SW Sixth Avenue. Follow signs to Kansas History Center. 21. Union Town/Herbert Reinhard Green Memorial Wildlife Park (Gilkerson Street, Willard, KS) was an Oregon Trail village from 1848-1859 where Oregon and California trail emigrants ferryed the Kansas R