The Santa Fe Trail - Tabo Creek, MO
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member YoSam.
N 39° 11.399 W 093° 43.837
15S E 436903 N 4338113
Three markers, interlocking not overlapping, at this site of a bend in the road near a ghost town of Tabo
Waymark Code: WMNPBG
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/13/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Geo Ferret
Views: 3
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County of marker: Lafayette County
Location of marker: old US 24 & US 24, E. of Tabo Creek, 2½ miles W. of Dover
Marker erected by: The Missouri River Outfitters Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association

Marker Text:

Camino de Santa Fe
THE SANTA FE TRAIL
1821-1880
"A Highway Between Nations"
Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, 1825

Tabo Creek

A ferry built by Adam Lightner
in 1821 may have carried
William Bucknell's first trade
expedition to Santa Fe in that year.

"Tabo Creek Crossing
The Tabo Creek crossing is south of the Missouri River, 8 miles east of Lexington, Missouri, and within sight of US Highway 24. As a major tributary on the south bank of the Missouri River, Tabo Creek presented an obstacle to travelers on both the Osage Trace and Santa Fe Trail routes. In 1821 a license was issued to operate a ferry across the creek. A DAR marker, now in Lexington, formerly stood on the creek bank here." ~ Main Branch of the Santa Fe Trail: Franklin, Missouri to the Kansas State Line

"In September 1821 William Becknell of Franklin probably followed the Osage Trace west from Arrow Rock through Grand Pass to Mount Vernon on Tabo Creek. Mount Vernon, which no longer exists, was the county seat of Lillard (later Lafayette) County, which included all of western Missouri at that time. In April 1821 the county court licensed Adam Lightner to operate a ferry across Tabo and appointed overseers to maintain the Trace from the eastern boundary of the county to Fort Osage. Becknell probably used the ferry at Tabo and then took the Trace to Fort Osage, skirting Lexington by a few miles to the south, before heading for Santa Fe.

"The Lexington settlers had successfully petitioned the county court to open a road from Jack's Ferry to Mount Vernon by July 1821. Referred to later as the "old Santa Fe Trail" or the "old Dover Road" (after an early settlement east of Mt. Vernon), this route was settled as early as 1818 by Christopher Catron, who is said to have broken the first prairie sod in the county. " ~ Lexington Missouri and The Santa Fe Trail

Web link: [Web Link]

History of Mark:
The “highway” concept seems strange by today’s standards considering the Trail was actually a route made up of several trails, originated by animal herds and Indians, and carved out of mostly uncharted prairies and high plains. In 1846, the Mexican-American War began, with the Army of the West following the Trail to invade Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe ended the war in 1848, the Trail became a “national road” connecting the United States to the new territories. By 1880, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reached Santa Fe, to be connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad a year later. The glory years of the Santa Fe Trail were over.

Additional point: Not Listed
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