We are in Rock Creek Station State Historic Park and Campground, Fairbury, Nebraska, Site 11. In addition to the volunteer camp host there is one other camper in the campground. We selected a campsite but had to wait until the wild turkeys left before we could set up camp. As we were setting up camp we noticed that the other camper was packing up to leave. Oh well, it will definitely be a quiet night in this campground with only critter sounds tonight! This park and campground is located on one of the major meeting areas of pioneers to wait for family and friends to join them on the Oregon Trail.
We are usually on the "Trail" before 8:00 A.M. but this morning we waited for the rain to move ahead of us and did not leave until 9:00 A.M. We returned to the Oregon Trail at Lone Elm Campground, Olathe, KS. This campground is on the main branch of the Santa Fe Trail and was the site of a spring (now enclosed in a small well) and excellent grazing for livestock. The spring was a major campsite for Santa Fe Trail travelers, where most emigrants spent their first night after departing just a few miles west of the Missouri-Kansas line. As time progressed, the "Elm Grove" was cut down by the travelers for firewood, resulting in the name "Lone Elm." Eventually the last tree was also cut down but the name endured.
Lone Elm Campground--A lone elm tree has been planted near the location of the last elm tree located in this campground.
Spring near the well in Lone Elm Campground
Then we spent a long time trying to locate the Parting of the Trails Historic Marker at Gardner Junction in Gardner, KS. This is where the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails separated after following the same route from Independence, MO. In the 1840s, a sign that said "Road to Oregon" was erected at this junction. Some people said that this place where the trails divide is "the grand-daddy of all highway junctions".
Historical Marker at Gardner, Kansas
Our next stop was St. Marys Mission in St. Marys, KS. It was founded in 1847 as a Jesuit Mission and straddled the route of the Oregon-California Trail. From 1847 to about 1857, St. Marys was the "Cape Canaveral" of western migration along this leg of the Oregon-California Trail. Once a person left St. Marys in those years - there was not another settlement until one reached Salt Lake, the California Gold Fields or the Willamette Valley in Oregon Territory, journeys of thousands of miles. The only intervening signs of "civilization" were two small sparsely manned army posts at Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie. Today it has been restored by the Society of St. Pius X and serves as a conservative Catholic education institution for both a K-12 school and a four year college.
We continued traveling to Scott Spring at Westmoreland, Kansas. This was another favorite campsite for emigrants. Westward travelers stopped to use the natural springs. We walked along the river and saw trail ruts and location of pioneer graves that were discovered during the construction of the highway near this park. Some of the graves had been identified and a brief history of the person was given.
Scott Spring on the Oregon Trail
Wagon Ruts leading to the river at Scott Spring.
The river at Scott Spring was much wider when the pioneers were crossing it.
One of the graves that was discovered when constructing the highway. Some of the grave markers had names and a brief description of the person's life.
Various examples of vegetation that early pioneers may have encountered are planted here.
Early pioneers had to walk in grasses this tall.
In trying to reach Alcove Springs in Blue Rapids, Kansas, we were delayed three different times by road construction with long delays. Finally when we reached Alcove Springs the historic marker was blocked by road equipment! Alcove Springs was a very popular campsite that was mentioned in many emigrants journals. Here emigrants left the tallgrass prairie of eastern Kansas and entered the shortgrass plains.
Historical Marker at Alcove Springs
A highlight of Ron's day was that we went by the Allen Fieldhouse Basketball Complex at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Roy Williams, coach at University of North Carolina, once coached at this school. Also, there is a statue to James Naismith who invented the game of basketball and who once coached at University of Kansas.
Allen Fieldhouse Basketball Complex in Lawrence, Kansas
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