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
"Another individual who played a significant role in the early years of the Santa Fe trade was US Senator
Thomas Hart Benton from Missouri. In his younger days as editor of the St. Louis Inquirer, Benton ardently
advocated the opening of trade with Mexico across the plains. As a senator, after Missouri became a state and
the Mexican frontier was opened to trade in 1821, “he pushed the project with renewed enthusiasm.”139 Senator
Benton was a staunch advocate for the Santa Fe trade, encouraging it through his writings and aiding it through
his efforts in Congress. He saw the trade as an economic stimulus for his state and a solution to financial
instability caused by quantities of worthless paper currency and shortage of hard currency. Benton’s Missouri
constituents had two major concerns. Firstly, dangers posed by Indians along both primary routes of the trail
were a real and frequent possibility. The Mountain Route was more difficult to traverse due to its mountainous
terrain that led wagon trains through Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche and Jicarilla Apache
territories.140 The Cimarron Route’s terrain, though much less rugged, still posed the danger of much less
water and a higher threat of attacks by nearby tribes such as the Comanche and Apache. Passing through
Indian territory often led to attacks on wagon trains by the occupying tribes. Secondly, the customs regulations
imposed on the trade by Mexican authorities was alarming to traders. After being questioned by Senator Benton,
traders returning from Santa Fe to Missouri in 1824 sent their complaints and requests to Washington.
" ... Benton forcefully guided a bill through Congress, calling for a survey of the trail
from Missouri to the international border along the north bank of the Arkansas River.148 The result of these
efforts was the passage of a bill on March 3, 1825, providing for the survey of a "highway between nations" and for
treaties to be made with the Indians through whose lands the road passed.149 The survey began in July of 1825
and became known as the “Sibley Survey,” after George Champlin Sibley who led the survey team, which included Benjamin H. Reeves and Thomas Mather.150 The Santa Fe Trail Survey Expedition embarked from
Fort Osage (now Sibley) on the Missouri River in Jackson County, Missouri.151 The expedition surveyed and
marked the trail between Missouri and Santa Fe, and the surveyors kept extensive notes and records. Rather
than survey the route then in use by traders, the Sibley Expedition followed and marked – by erecting earth
mounds – a somewhat different route (Figure 4).152 Some historians suggest that the Sibley Survey never
fulfilled its purpose. This was partly because the Sibley survey ended in Taos, with a branch road to Santa Fe
from Taos surveyed later.153 Upon completion of the survey in 1827, the surveyors’ records were sent to
Washington, but unfortunately for traders and travelers of the Santa Fe Trail, little of the valuable data was
published or made public knowledge.154 Within a few years the earth mounds had disappeared, leaving only
wagon ruts to mark the trail to Santa Fe. Sibley thought the survey was unnecessary because he agreed with
the wagon men that they already knew the route to Santa Fe, even without man-made markers.155 Indeed, Sibley
later echoed the contention by some individuals that the traders themselves had already performed the task of
marking the Santa Fe Trail.156 He stated in his journal, “The road as traveled is already well enough Marked by
the Waggons [sic], any Mounds put up would be Soon thrown down by the Buffalo and Indians.”157 The Sibley
Survey had little effect upon the development of the trade or the trail; however, it did provide national publicity." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"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