Santa Fe Trail, Site of Gum Springs - W 59th St at Nieman Rd, Shawnee KS
N 39° 01.315 W 094° 42.873
15S E 351575 N 4320607
A Santa Fe Trail historic site sign at W 59th St and Nieman Road marking the site of the landmark (and important watering stop) Gum Springs on the old Santa Fe Trail.
Waymark Code: WMGQ36
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 03/30/2013
Views: 8
The Gum Springs were so named because th Shawnee Indians that found them planted gum trees all around the springs to protect this important water source from being filled in with silt.
Today, the springs are hidden under the developed town of Shawnee KS, but a small sign marks this historic location, an important stop on the Santa Fe Trail.
Nothing else is here to see -- the spot is just the parking lot of an aging strip shopping center.
From the Shawnee KS convention and visitors bureau website: (
visit link)
"Shawnee is named for the Shawnee Indians that were relocated here in the late 1820s. The westward push of white settlement had weakened and geographically divided the Shawnees by 1825 when the first of three treaties forced them to relocate to Kansas. Here they found an abundance of timber and free-flowing springs. Because the Shawnee wisely lined the springs with gum tree logs to keep them free of contaminating silt, the settlement was called Gum Springs.
In an 1825 treaty with the Indians, the U.S. government gave the Shawnee Indians 1,600,000 acres of land in eastern Kansas, including all of Johnson County, in exchange for their lands in Missouri. By 1854, a new treaty was negotiated, with the Indians selling back to the United States all of the land with the exception of 200,000 acres reserved for their homes, amounting to 200 acres for each member of the tribe. In 1854 the Kansas Territory was opened for settlement. The newly repossessed territory was sold by the government to the incoming home-seekers. Shawneetown (later shortened to Shawnee) was platted soon after in 1856. . . ." [end