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These are historic sites or interpretive facilities on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail in west Kansas that you can visit:
Coronado/Quivira Museum, Lyons
Location: 105 W. Lyon Street (at East Avenue S)
Telephone: (620) 257-3941
Hours: Mon-Sat 9 a.m-5 p.m., Sunday 1-5 p.m.
Available Facilities: Part of the museum is in the old Carnegie Library, with most of the displays in the newer, adjacent structure. This is one of the best small museums in Kansas.
Exhibits: Separate displays focus on early inhabitants, Spanish explorers, the Santa Fe Trail, and the coming of homesteaders and permanent settlers.
To learn more: skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Lyons/museum/
Buffalo Bill's Well (Beach Ranch Well), Lyons
Location: 4 miles west of Lyons, on US Highway 56 to Father Padilla’s Cross, then turn left (south) for 1 mile on a gravel road. At this point two gravel roads intersect, and the well is in the northwest quadrant of that intersection, very near the road.
Telephone: (620) 257-2842 (Lyons Chamber of Commerce)
Hours: unrestricted
Historical Significance: The well was originally dug to serve the Beach ranch at Cow Creek crossing, providing water for livestock as well as for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Sometime after 1860 William Mathewson, who was the original Buffalo Bill, purchased the ranch of Asahel and Abijah Beach, also called the Cow Creek ranch, and operated it until 1866. Mathewson was known as Buffalo Bill because he helped supply buffalo meat to starving settlers in Kansas Territory during the severe drought of 1859-60. (In later years the better-known Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody, worked for Masterson.)
Available Facilities: This hand-dug well can be visited today. The well was nearly wiped out a number of years ago when a road improvement project was under way. It was saved by the timely action of several local historians.
Exhibits: A Daughters of the American Revolution marker is located just north of the well.
To learn more: www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/trail-in-rice-co.html
Cow Creek Crossing, outside Lyons
Location: from Lyons, go west on U.S. Highway 56 for 4 miles; turn left (south) for one mile, then turn right (west) to a bridge over Cow Creek. The actual crossing was just south of the present bridge.
Telephone: (620) 257-2842 (Lyons Chamber of Commerce)
Hours: unrestricted
Historical Significance: Cow Creek was an important campground and crossing site. In 1858, Asahel and Abijah Beach built a trading ranch and stage station just east of the crossing. A well was dug at approximately the same time to provide water for livestock and for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, and in 1859 a toll bridge was built over Cow Creek.
Available Facilities: The present bridge is believed to be downstream from the site of the original, which was reportedly just north of the old crossing of Cow Creek. Looking south from the west end of the present bridge, stones for crossing the streambed were identified during the drought of 1988.
To learn more: www.santafetrailresearch.com/mileagecharts/sft-kansas.html or www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1972/72_4_barry.htm
Ralph’s Ruts, near Chase
Location:422 Avenue L. From Chase, go west on U.S. Highway 56 for 3 miles to 5th Road, turn right (north) for one mile to Avenue L, then turn left (west) for 3/4ths of a mile to the ruts, which are located on the Ralph Hathaway Farm.
Telephone: (620) 938-2504
Hours: unrestricted
Historical Significance: This site, which is on the northwest forty acres of the Ralph Hathaway farm, shows some of the most pronounced and fine Santa Fe Trail ruts to be found along the full length of the Santa Fe Trail. This forty acres was saved from the plow because Ralph's grandfather, shortly after he homesteaded the area in 1878, discovered that it was too sandy to be satisfactory crop land. The Plum Buttes Massacre, which probably took place in September 1867, took place near this spot.
Available Facilities: Having been left in the native sod, the ruts have been well preserved. One unique feature of these ruts is that there are seven, instead of the four that you find at most rut sites. This is probably due to the sandy soil at this location. The ruts became so deep and the layer of loose sand offered so much rolling resistance to the wagon wheels that from time to time some of the drivers simply moved over to one side and made a new path parallel to the others. Visitors to the site have an easy access and a turnout for parking.
Exhibits: An identifying signpost and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) marker is located at the site.
To learn more: www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/trail-in-rice-co.html
Kern Ruts, near Chase
Location: just west of Ralph’s Ruts. From Chase, go west on U.S. Highway 56 for 4 miles to 4th Road (which is the Bushton-Raymond county road), then turn right (north) on 4th Road for 1 mile to Avenue L, then turn left (west) to the ruts, which are located south of Avenue L.
Hours: restricted access due to private land ownership.
Historical Significance: The trail ruts in the northwest quarter Section 34 of Pioneer Township (where Ralph’s Ruts are located) are still present for another one half mile on the farm owned by the Kern family, which is in the northeast quarter of Section 33. These ruts were somewhat disturbed by oil development back in the 1930's.
Available Facilities: The ruts cannot be easily seen from 4th Road, but they can be seen if you walk the area. West from this site, the ruts continue on intermittently for almost 2 miles, where they form the spectacular Gunsight Notch, a ridge worn away by 60 years of commercial and military traffic.
Exhibits: none.
To learn more: www.santafetrailresearch.com/research/trail-in-rice-co.html
Barton County Historical Society Museum, Great Bend
Location: 85 S. Highway 281
Telephone: (620) 793-5125
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 1:00-5:00 p.m. Closed on the weekends between November and March.
Available Facilities: The museum building consists of exhibits (including the Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Site), a research library, and an administrative area. Behind the building is a historical village consisting of a church, one-room school house, windmill, post office building, railroad depot, barn, residences, and other structures.
Exhibits: From Plum Buttes to the Walnut Creek Crossing to Pawnee Rock, the area that is now Barton County played a major role in the history of the Santa Fe Trail. Collections and displays maintained by the Historical Society tell the story of this region from the American Indians of the Paleo Period through the development of the trail, the trading posts and Fort Zarah, to European settlement.
To learn more: www.bartoncountymuseum.org/
Pawnee Rock, near Pawnee Rock
Location: Pawnee Rock is located in Pawnee Rock State Park, which is on Centre St. (SW 112th Ave.), one-half mile north of U.S. Highway 56 near the town of Pawnee Rock.
Telephone: (785) 272-8681
Hours: Daily, dawn to dusk
Historical Significance: To travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, this sandstone citadel marked the halfway point of the trail and was one of the most prominent landmarks on their long journey. American Indians were said to have met at Pawnee Rock and reputedly used it as a vantage point to spot bison herds and approaching wagon trains. At times, travelers on the Santa Fe Trail regarded it as the most dangerous place they had to pass. However, it was also a welcome landmark for travelers, signaling that about half of their journey was now behind them. Hundreds stopped to write their names in the soft sandstone beside the ancient drawings that the Indians had engraved before. In 1848, James Birch, a soldier on his way past the site, wrote: “Pawnee Rock was covered with names carved by the men who had passed it. It was so full that I could find no place for mine.”
Available Facilities/Exhibits: The state park’s most prominent facility is a viewing platform
Exhibits: There is a large concrete obelisk (dedicated in 1912) commemorating the Santa Fe Trail.
To learn more: www.kshs.org/places/pawneerock/index.htm
Santa Fe Trail Center, Larned
Location: 1349 Kansas Highway 156, which is 2 miles west of Larned.
Telephone: (620) 285-2054
Hours: Memorial Day through Labor Day, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; closed Mondays during the winter
Available Facilities: The trail center is devoted to the interpretation of the Santa Fe Trail. This regional museum and library preserves artifacts and manuscripts related to the blending of the major cultures along the trail and enhances understanding of the continued development of the trail.
Exhibits: The center features Interrelated interpretive exhibits, learning programs and resource materials.
To learn more: www.santafetrailcenter.org
Boot Hill Museum Ruts, near Dodge City
Location: 9 miles west of Dodge City on the north side of U.S. Highway 50.
Telephone: (620) 227-8188 (Boot Hill Museum in central Dodge City)
Hours: unrestricted
Historical Significance: This site preserves one of the finest remnants of wagon tracks in existence along the entire trail.
Available Facilities: The site is owned and managed by the Boot Hill Museum, which permits visitors to walk to the site of the parallel ruts.
Exhibits: The Kansas Highway Department has provided a turnout and a parking area. Interpretive signs are placed along an easily accessible walkway.
To learn more: www.boothill.org/exhibits.html
Historic Adobe Museum (Grant County Museum), Ulysses
Location: 300 E. Oklahoma (U.S. Highway 160) at S. Court St.
Telephone: (620) 356-3009
Hours: Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Available Facilities: The Grant County Museum is housed in a handmade adobe structure built for a county shop in the 1930s as a WPA project.
Exhibits: The museum chronicles county and area history from mastodons to gas wells. Its emphasis is on the Santa Fe Trail, Jedediah Smith and Wagonbed Springs. Also included in the Museum Complex is a historic hotel and one-room schoolhouse.
To learn more: skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Ulysses/museum.html
Davis Segment/Ruts, near Wilburton
Location: 9 miles north of Wilburton. To reach the site, drive north from Wilburton on County Road 16 for 7 miles, then turn right (northeast) on the Santa Fe Trail 1.5 miles to the site. It is located on open prairie and is immediately adjacent to the Cimarron National Grassland.
Hours: private property, restricted access.
Historical Significance: This 1/2 mile segment was part of the Santa Fe Trail’s Cimarron Route; it is located 10 miles east of Middle Spring.
Available Facilities or Exhibits: none
To learn more: www.trailsandgrasslands.org/sftrail.html#middle
Morton County Historical Society Museum, Elkhart
Location:370 E. US Highway 56
Telephone: (620) 697-2833
Hours: June-August, Tues.-Fri.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. & Sun., 2-4 p.m. Sept-May, Tues.-Fri., 1-5 p.m.
Available Facilities: The Museum was established in 1987. It includes exhibits relating to Indian life, the Coronado Expedition, the Santa Fe Trail, the coming of the railroad, the Dust Bowl, and other topics.
Exhibits: The museum features six Santa Fe Trail exhibits. In addition, the exhibit consists of two display cases containing original artifacts found on the trail and a large freight wagon set in a prairie scene.
To learn more: www.mtcoks.com/museum/
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