Historic Trail Ruts -- Independence MO - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

You can still see the faint outlines of the grassed-over trail ruts left by travelers on these historic emigrant and trade trails just a few hundred feet away from the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence MO.

A sign explains what you are seeing. It reads as follows:

"INDEPENDENCE AND THE SANTA FE TRAIL

Independence bustled with people, wagons, and animals preparing for a journey on the Santa Fe Trail from the 1830s to the 1860s. During those yeras, Independence boomed as the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe Trail, a 900-mile overland trade route between the United States and Mexico. TRade caravans, full of commercial goods, headed out from the courthouse square, six blocks north of here, to the sound of "all set!"

"One after another, the laden wagons rolled from the crowded square, shouts, cheers, and yells -- away they wind like an Oriental caravan, amnd the little hamlet, just now so full of life and animatrion, is deserted and lone." -- Richard L. Wilson, 1841

[map of the Santa Fe Trail]
The Santa Fe Trail carried thousands of large freight wagons across the vast Western prairies. Starting in 1821, trail traffic moved in both directions and expanded to include stagecoach, mail, and military freight services. Railroads ended the trail's usefulness in the 1880s.

DISCOVERING TRACES OF THE TRAIL

Take this paved 1/3-mile loop trail to see swales, grassed-over wagon ruts, made by the thousands of freight wagons and animals that passed this way more than 150 years ago. These swales are among the few that have survived urban development in the Kansas City area." [end]

Road of Trail Name: Oregon, Santa Fe, & California Trails State: MO County: Jackson Historical Significance: These 3 emigrant and trade trails opened the west and eventually assured that the US would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Years in use: 1820s-1880s How you discovered it: we looked at the National Frontier Trails Museum website Book on Wagon Road or Trial: Here are several: http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/wet/books-of-the-sft.html Website Explination: http://www.oregontrailcenter.org/HistoricalTrails/TheStartingPoint.htm http://www.octa-trails.org/ http://www.nps.gov/safe/index.htm Why?: Emigrants used the California and Oregon trails to make new lives in these far-away places (or make a quick buck chaing gold in California) Traders used the Santa Fe trail to trade with Mexico and the Indians in present day New Mexico Directions: the ruts are just west of the National Frontier Trails museum. Exit the parking lot and make an almost immediate left onto a road leading to a parking area. Go on the concrete path leading from the parking area into the trees. Cross a small creek on a bridge, and continue on the concrete path. The ruts are there in the clearing, surrounded by a concrete walking trail. -->PLEASE STAY ON THE WALKING TRAIL TO PRESERVE THE RUTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO SEE <--

Visit Instructions:
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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/12/2013 Benchmark Blasterz visited it