Frederick Funston, five feet four and slightly built, went from this farm to a life of amazing adventure. Youthful exploring expeditions in this country were followed by two years in the Arctic from which he returned down the Yukon river 1,500 miles . . . — — Map (db m53285) HM
On July 4, 1804, Lewis and Clark exploring the new Louisiana Purchase, camped near this site. Fifty years later the town was founded by Proslavery men and named for Sen. D. R. Atchison. The Squatter Sovereign, Atchison's first newspaper, was an . . . — — Map (db m77888) HM
Near here, located in a grove of young hickory trees, was an important rallying point in 1855 and 1856 for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), then emigrating to the Rocky Mountains.
The campground, really a . . . — — Map (db m55363) HM
Long before white men settled Kansas, traffic over the Santa Fe trail was so heavy that troops were detailed to protect it from the Indians. Fort Leavenworth, established in 1827 by Col. Henry Leavenworth, was for thirty years the chief base of . . . — — Map (db m52956) HM
At Medicine Lodge Creek in 1867, as many as 15,000 Apaches, Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahos, and Cheyennes gathered with a seven-member peace commission escorted by U.S. soldiers to conduct one of the nation’s largest peace councils. The American . . . — — Map (db m65195) HM
In 1825 the Federal government surveyed the Santa Fe trail, great trade route from western Missouri to Santa Fe. Treaties with Kansas and Osage Indians safeguarded the eastern end of the road but Plains Tribes continued to make raids. Fort Zarah, at . . . — — Map (db m55315) HM
"We first rode nearly north about a mile to a remarkable Rocky Point . . .We rode upon the top which is probably 50 feet above the plain below, and from whence there is a charming view of the country in every direction."
—George Sibley, . . . — — Map (db m64191) HM
This western outpost, named for General Winfield Scott, was established by U.S. Dragoons in 1842. The fort was located on the military road that marked the "permanent Indian frontier" stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana and stood midway between . . . — — Map (db m78770) HM
At this site the first power pole for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative was dedicated in special ceremony on November 10, 1937. Brown-Atchison was the first rural electric project to energize in Kansas financed by loan funds from the Rural . . . — — Map (db m63774) HM
The town and township lie tucked in the pleasant valley of the Whitewater River, and take their name from the Osage Indian term "many waters." First settler was C.L. Chandler, a returning '49er from the California gold fields who built his cabin in . . . — — Map (db m104028) HM
Cottonwood Falls has been the Chase county seat since both town and county were established in 1859. The first log cabin-courthouse was replaced in 1873 by this stately building of native limestone and walnut, which today is the oldest Kansas . . . — — Map (db m49505) HM
The vast prairie which surrounds this site is typical of the Bluestem pasture region more commonly known as the Flint Hills. Named for its predominant grasses, the area extends from Oklahoma almost to Nebraska in a narrow oval two counties wide . . . — — Map (db m43260) HM
On October 6, 1863, Gen. James Blunt and about 100 men were met near Baxter’s springs by William Quantrill and several hundred Confederates masquerading as Union troops. As Blunt’s band was preparing a musical salute the enemy fired. This surprise . . . — — Map (db m37840) HM
This marker stands within a geologic feature known as the Big Basin, which is a sinkhole or "sink" about a mile in diameter and more than a hundred feet deep. Although it has the appearance of a valley, it is entirely surrounded by higher ground. . . . — — Map (db m11565) HM
According to legend, in 1869, Father Phillip Colleton was caught at this site by a furious hail and thunderstorm. The frightened priest took refuge under his saddle and vowed that if his life was spared, he would build a church on this spot. The . . . — — Map (db m46241) HM
After the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana, tensions mounted between the U.S. government and the Plains Indians. The U.S. army intensified efforts to remove the Northern Cheyennes to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1877. There the tribe . . . — — Map (db m152717) HM
At the end of the Civil War when millions of longhorns were left on the plains of Texas without a market, the Union Pacific was building west across Kansas. Joseph McCoy, an Illinois stockman, believed these cattle could be herded north for . . . — — Map (db m43945) HM
Two miles west is Troy, named for the famous city of Greek antiquity. Following the organization of Doniphan county in 1855 Troy was named the county seat and business began there in 1856. Initially it played a secondary role to such Missouri river . . . — — Map (db m47397) HM
Here, and for the next 300 miles west, Highway 56 roughly follows the old Santa Fe Trail, and frequently crosses it. White settlement began in this area in 1854, the year Kansas became a territory, and in 1855 the town of Palmyra was founded. When . . . — — Map (db m20073) HM
This "battle" was part of the struggle to make Kansas a free state. In May, 1856, Proslavery men destroyed buildings and newspaper presses in Lawrence, Free-State headquarters. John Brown's company then killed five Proslavery men on Pottawatomie . . . — — Map (db m20059) HM
In 1855 the new town of Lecompton was named the capital of Kansas Territory. President James Buchanan appointed a governor and officials to establish government offices in Lecompton, and construction began on an elegant capitol building. In the . . . — — Map (db m50755) HM
Lawrence was established in 1854 by the Emigrant Aid Company, a New England organization formed to prevent the new Kansas territory from becoming a slave state. When the first legislature enacted the so-called Bogus Laws with severe penalties for . . . — — Map (db m20460) HM
A battle between U.S. troops and Plains Indians occurred near this area along the Santa Fe Trail in 1848 and inspired stories and legends for years to come. An army train of 60 wagons was traveling through Comanche and Apache hunting grounds on . . . — — Map (db m228350) HM
In 1831, Prudence Crandall, educator, emancipator, and human rights advocate, established a school which in 1833, became the first Black female academy in New England at Canterbury, Connecticut. This later action resulted in her arrest and . . . — — Map (db m57960) HM
This noted U.S. Army post was established in 1865 as a headquarters for troops given the task of protecting military roads, guarding the mails and defending construction crews on the Union Pacific Railway. Fort Hays also served as a major supply . . . — — Map (db m59207) HM
Nowhere in America were two colonies more unlike than those that came here. Scarlet-coated Britishers who chased antelope on bob-tailed ponies were joined by frugal and hard-working German-Russian immigrants. A Scotsman, George Grant, with 69,000 . . . — — Map (db m80424) HM
When the Union Pacific built through here in 1867 this was buffalo country. As the engines chugged on west, the Hays newspaper reported: "Passengers on the cars between here and Ellsworth have almost daily fine sport shooting at buffalo, immense . . . — — Map (db m53550) HM
The rolling land in this area was once sheep country, but now cattle roam here. These stone fence posts found are examples of the many still in use in this portion of Kansas. In an area where wood for posts was scarce, settlers used the materials at . . . — — Map (db m88765) HM
This region of Kansas contains the Smoky Hills, an area of rolling hills, occasional mesas, and buttes, with striking outcroppings. Pawnee Rock, Coronado Heights, and Rock City are notable Dakota sandstone formations in this region. The Smoky Hills . . . — — Map (db m55318) HM
For thousands of years American Indians depended upon the buffalo for food, materials for shelter, and numerous other necessities. This relationship ended toward the end of the 19th century when commercial hide hunters nearly drove the buffalo to . . . — — Map (db m213864) HM
In 1882 the first Jewish agricultural colony in Kansas was established when some 60 recently arrived Jewish immigrants from Russia, sponsored by the Hebrew Union Agricultural Society, settled northeast of here along Pawnee Creek. Named for the . . . — — Map (db m160235) HM
The Fort Dodge - Camp Supply Military Road passed several hundred feet west of this marker. The route was established in 1868 during General Phillip H. Sheridan's winter campaign against Indians in Texas and the Indian Territory. This ungraded . . . — — Map (db m78809) HM
"If you stood on the hill above Dodge City, there was traffic as far as you could see, 24-hours a day; seven days a week on the Santa Fe Trail." —Henry L. Sitler, early settler Fort Dodge was established on the Santa Fe Trail in 1859 to protect . . . — — Map (db m204346) HM
Fort Dodge, named for Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, was established here in 1865. It was a supply depot and base of operations against warring Plains Tribes. Custer, Sheridan, Miles, Hancock, "Wild Bill" Hickok and "Buffalo Bill" Cody are figures . . . — — Map (db m65406) HM
The Santa Fe trail, extending 750 miles from the Kansas City area to the old Spanish settlement of Santa Fe, was the great overland trade route of the 1820's to 1870s. Its commercial use began in 1821, when William Becknell headed west with a pack . . . — — Map (db m55277) HM
This building was erected in 1855 in the now extinct town of Pawnee for the first legislature of the territory of Kansas. The members were mostly Missourians, fraudulently elected in an effort to make Kansas a slave state. They came in wagons and on . . . — — Map (db m33038) HM
Here where the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers unite to form the Kansas, Fremont's expedition of 1843 camped and reported great numbers of elk, antelope and Indians. In 1852 the army selected the site for a Western outpost, temporarily called . . . — — Map (db m32755) HM
Five miles to the northeast the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers unite to form the Kansas or Kaw. At the junction, the city which bears the name, was founded in 1857. Before the arrival of the westward-building Union Pacific railroad in 1866, . . . — — Map (db m74013) HM
Seven miles ahead you will drive through the southern edge of Fort Riley, established as Camp Center in 1852. The fort was visited by Horace Greeley, noted editor of the New York Tribune, when he traveled by stagecoach to the Pike's Peak region . . . — — Map (db m32714) HM
Approximately 7 miles ahead is the southern edge of Fort Riley, established as a military post in 1853. Horace Greeley, noted editor of the New York Tribune, visited the fort in 1859. Of Fort Riley he said, “I hear that two millions of Uncle . . . — — Map (db m78886) HM
North on scenic K-177 is Manhattan, home of Kansas State University, established as Bluemont College in 1858. Above Manhattan is the huge Tuttle Creek dam and reservoir, described in the 1950s by embattled valley residents as "Big Dam . . . — — Map (db m55357) HM
In July, 1877 Negro “exodusters” from Kentucky established a settlement here in the Promised Land of Kansas which they named Nicodemus. Although the colonists lacked sufficient tools, seed and money they managed to survive the first . . . — — Map (db m154733) HM
About two miles west were the Lower Springs of the Cimarron River, known today as Wagon Bed Springs. For early-day travelers on the famous Santa Fe Trail, the springs were an “oasis” in dry weather. Several shortcuts of the trail converged here, . . . — — Map (db m213735) HM
Cimarron, settled in 1878, got its name as the starting point at one time of the shorter Cimarron or dry route to Santa Fe. Here the Santa Fe Trail divided, one branch heading directly southwest, the other (present US 50) following the Arkansas . . . — — Map (db m204576) HM
This county lies almost wholly within one of the world's great beef cattle feeding grounds, the Bluestem pasture region of Kansas. The area, more popularly known as the Flint Hills, extends across the state from north to south in a narrow oval two . . . — — Map (db m55990) HM
Two miles northeast of here, in 1890, stood a typical English village. Curving driveways led to English-style houses set among rows of clipped hedges. Nearby were polo grounds, a steeplechase course, a race track, tennis courts, and a football . . . — — Map (db m62700) HM
Children in Russia hand-picked the first seeds of this famous winter wheat for Kansas. They belonged to Mennonite Colonies preparing to emigrate from the steppes to the America prairies. A peace-loving sect, originally from Holland, the . . . — — Map (db m53056) HM
New Inscription
One witness to this event later wrote that it was “no joke” to attack old John Brown. The abolitionist inspired such terror that in January 1859, about 1.5 miles north of here, a U.S. marshal fled at the mere sight of him. . . . — — Map (db m228347) HM
In September, 1856, a band of Proslavery men sacked Grasshopper Falls (Valley Falls) and terrorized the vicinity. On the 13th, the Free-State leader James H. Lane with a small company besieged a party of raiders in log buildings at Hickory Point, . . . — — Map (db m55362) HM
The Kansa Indians (Kaw) came to this region from the forested southeast. They lived in permanent longhouses covered with bark and cultivated corn, beans, and squash. In their western hunting grounds they captured buffalo and other large animals. . . . — — Map (db m63719) HM
Here US-56 lies directly on the route of the Oregon-California and Santa Fe trails. Nearby, the trails branched. On a rough sign pointing northwest were the words, "Road to Oregon." Another marker directed travelers southwest along the road to Santa . . . — — Map (db m21669) HM
In 1825 the Federal government began moving Eastern Indians to new lands west of the Mississippi. This sign is on a 2,500 square mile tract assigned to the Shawnees.
With this tribe came Methodist, Baptist and Quaker missionaries. One mile east . . . — — Map (db m20906) HM
In the spring of 1816 Auguste P. Chouteau's hunting party traveling east with a winter's catch of furs was attacked near the Arkansas river by 200 Pawnees. Retreating to what was once an island five miles southwest of this marker the hunters . . . — — Map (db m65747) HM
Looking east, up and over the bank of the ditch, one can see the wagon ruts of the Santa Fe Trail. You will notice a difference in the color and texture of the grass in the ruts. This is characteristic of the ruts along the trail. Between Pawnee . . . — — Map (db m65755) HM
Flamboyant and colorful, Donald R. "Cannonball" Green (1839-1922) ran a stage line connecting the railroad to towns across southwestern Kansas. Green started his first stage service in Kingman in 1876. It ran through Pratt to Coldwater and later . . . — — Map (db m65268) HM
Established in 1827, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest army post in continuous operation west of the Missouri River. Serving as the army's chief base of operations on the Central Plains, the fort furnished troops and supplies for military operations . . . — — Map (db m63183) HM
Two weeks after Kansas was officially opened for settlement, the state's oldest city was born. The date was June 12, 1854, and the town was named for nearby Fort Leavenworth.
In September, type for the first regular weekly newspaper in Kansas . . . — — Map (db m19839) HM
In October, 1864, a Confederate army under Gen. Stirling Price was defeated near Kansas City. He retreated south, crossed into Kansas, and camped at Trading Post. Early on the morning of October 25 Union troops under Generals Pleasonton, Blunt and . . . — — Map (db m6937) HM
Nothing in the struggle over slavery in Kansas did more to inflame the nation than the mass killing which took place May 19, 1858, about four miles northeast of this marker. Charles Hamelton who had been driven from the territory by Free-State men, . . . — — Map (db m4359) HM
Beginning in 1874, hundreds of peace-loving Mennonite immigrants settled in central Kansas. They had left their former homes in Russia because a hundred-year-old immunity from established religious orthodoxy and military service was being . . . — — Map (db m61058) HM
Six miles northwest is Alcove Springs, named in 1846 by appreciative travelers on the Oregon trail who carved the name on the surrounding rocks and trees. One described the Springs as "a beautiful cascade of water... altogether one of the most . . . — — Map (db m79113) HM
Begun in 1858, the Hollenberg Ranch, four miles north and one mile east of here, served as a stop on the Oregon-California Trail until the late 1860s. Gerat and Sophia Hollenberg, German emigrants, sold food and other supplies, lodging, and draft . . . — — Map (db m228348) HM
A few miles below Marysville was the famous ford on the Oregon Trail known as the Independence, Mormon or California crossing. There thousands of covered wagons with settlers bound for Oregon, Mormons for Utah and gold seekers for California . . . — — Map (db m152715) HM
In 1849, Frank Marshall obtained permission from the U.S. government to establish a trading post and ferry before Kansas opened for settlement. Thousands of wagons lined up to cross the Blue River on the Oregon-California Trail as settlers headed . . . — — Map (db m227616) HM
In 1825 President James Monroe approved a bill providing for the survey of the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico and the making of treaties to insure friendly relations with Indians along the route. A mile west of this sign, on Dry Turkey . . . — — Map (db m53059) HM
During the first half of the 19th century the U.S. government, in response to public pressure for land and resources, began a program of concentrating Indian tribes on reservations. After the Civil War, an ever growing number of settlers made it . . . — — Map (db m55276) HM
Osawatomie - the name derives from a combination of Osage and Pottawatomie - was settled in 1854 by Free-State families from the Ohio Valley and New England. John Brown, soon to become famous for his militant abolitionism, joined five of his . . . — — Map (db m69325) HM
Many moons ago, so runs an Indian legend, Waconda, a beautiful Princess, fell in love with a brave of another tribe. Prevented from marriage by a blood feud, this warrior embroiled the tribes in battle. During the fight an arrow struck him as he . . . — — Map (db m123009) HM
American Indians considered Waconda Springs a sacred site. Translated similarly by other tribes, the name comes from a Kaw word meaning "Great Spirit." The legend tells of the beautiful Waconda who fell in love with the warrior Takota from a . . . — — Map (db m123034) HM
During the Civil War, militias from both the Union and Confederate sides were stealing the Osages' cattle, harassing their villages, and blaming the Indians for raids actually committed by Americans. Osage leader Charles Mongrain cautioned everyone . . . — — Map (db m60477) HM
Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family ~~ John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate ~~ who settled here in 1871. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and spiritualist. Secretly, the four made a living . . . — — Map (db m52958) HM
In 1825 growing traffic over the Santa Fe trail brought a government survey and right-of-way treaties with certain Indians. Council Grove takes its name from an agreement made here that year with the Osage nation. Indians farther west continued . . . — — Map (db m44940) HM
The Cimarron Cutoff, or Dry Route, of the old Santa Fe Trail extended southwest from several Arkansas River crossings to the Cimarron River, a distance of 50 to 60 miles. This route was a perilous stretch of arid plains known as La Jornada. . . . — — Map (db m210687) HM
Near here the towns of Plymouth and Lexington once stood as outposts on the Lane Trail, approximated today by US-75. Named for abolitionist James H. Lane, the trail was established in 1856 to bypass proslavery strongholds in Missouri and provide . . . — — Map (db m52952) HM
The first Indian mission and school in present Kansas was established in September, 1824, about five miles west of this marker. Benton Pixley, the missionary, followed Chief White Hair and his band of Great Osages who had migrated from Missouri . . . — — Map (db m46198) HM
Originally from the Ohio Valley, the Osages agreed in 1810 to a treaty to relinquish lands in Missouri and relocate along the Neosho River in Kansas. Under the leadership of Chief Pahuska, called White Hair, the Osages lived and hunted on their . . . — — Map (db m65813) HM
The mission was founded in 1847 for Osage Indians living along the Neosho and Verdigris rivers. A manual labor school for boys was established by the Jesuits and a department for girls by the Sisters of Loretto. Highest recorded enrollment was 239. . . . — — Map (db m46238) HM
A mile and half south is a quarter section of land originally homesteaded by George Washington Carver. An African American and one of America's great scientists, Carver revolutionized agriculture in the South with his discoveries. From sweet . . . — — Map (db m61955) HM
On a ranch 18 miles southeast of this marker a bronze plate marks the most important spot on this continent to surveyors and map makers. Engraved in the bronze is a cross-mark and on the tiny point where the lines cross depend the surveys of a . . . — — Map (db m53531) HM
Camp Criley was established in 1872 as a supply station for workmen building the Santa Fe Railroad, name changed to Garfield in 1873 by pioneers settling here.
This park was planned in 1880 and the first trees planted in April 1882. The Band Shell . . . — — Map (db m55283) HM
This 280 acres was collateral for the nation's first Federal Land Bank loan made on April 10, 1917 to farmer-stockman A. L. Stockwell. In those days, farmers and ranchers found credit hard to come by. If available, it was often very expensive . . . . . . — — Map (db m55285) HM
This city and college take their name from St. Mary's Catholic Mission founded here by the Jesuits in 1848 for the Pottawatomie Indians. These missionaries, who had lived with the tribe in eastern Kansas from 1838, accompanied the removal to this . . . — — Map (db m122966) HM
Of Pottawatomie Indian and French ancestry, Louis Vieux was an early resident of this area. Probably born near Lake Michigan, Vieux, with a portion of the Pottawatomies, moved to Iowa and later Indianola, Kan., near Topeka. In 1847 or 1848, Vieux . . . — — Map (db m32608) HM
From the 1830's to the 1870's, the 2,000-mile road connecting Missouri river towns with California and Oregon was America's greatest transcontinental highway. Several routes led west from the river, converging into one trail by the time the Fort . . . — — Map (db m80927) HM
The vast expanse of High Plains that today encompasses Rawlins County was once home and hunting ground to Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapaho Indians. With continued railroad construction and the growth of permanent settlements, American westward . . . — — Map (db m176814) HM
Long before white men settled Kansas this region was the home of Pawnee Indians. French traders in the late 1700's named those along this river the Republican Pawnee in the mistaken belief that their form of government was a republic. From them the . . . — — Map (db m53412) HM
Eighty years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorers visited Kansas. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, seeking gold in New Mexico, was told of Quivira by an Indian called the Turk. Here were "trees hung with golden bells and . . . — — Map (db m53314) HM
Established in 1867, the Fort Hays-Fort Dodge Trail, which passed near this spot, was first used by the military and some civilian traffic in 1868. The following year Alexander Harvey, a former member of the Sixth Cavalry, built a trading post on . . . — — Map (db m89567) HM
In Scott County State Park three miles northwest is El Quartelejo, only known Indian pueblo in Kansas. About 1650, it is believed, Taos Indians migrated here to escape Spanish oppression. Later they were persuaded by the Spanish governor to return . . . — — Map (db m67917) HM
Reconstructed here are the remains of a seven-room pueblo believed to have been built by Pueblo Indians from New Mexico. According to Spanish records Indians from Taos and Picuris Pueblos, fleeing Spanish rule, joined their Apache allies at a . . . — — Map (db m65952) HM
In October 1865 hundreds of Plains Indians camped on these prairies to negotiate peace with U.S. government officials. Among them were Chiefs Black Kettle and Seven Bulls (Cheyennes), Little Raven and Big Mouth (Arapahos), Rising Sun and Horse's . . . — — Map (db m61099) HM
At the close of the Civil War when millions of longhorns were left on the plains of Texas without a market, the Union Pacific was building west across Kansas. Joseph McCoy, an Illinois stockman, believed these cattle could be herded over the . . . — — Map (db m61125) HM
Many Kansas towns originated as potential railroad centers. Three miles west of this marker Arkalon was founded in 1888 at the Cimarron river crossing of the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska railway, a part of the Rock Island. Town lots were cheap, and . . . — — Map (db m223938) HM
The importance of railroads to the early settlement and prosperity of the West is nowhere better illustrated than in the stories of two Seward county towns. Fargo Springs, founded in 1885 about three miles south of here, was the first town . . . — — Map (db m78811) HM
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, with 36 soldiers and Father Juan de Padilla, marched north from the Rio Grande valley in the spring of 1541. Coronado's objective was the land of Quivira, described to the Spaniards as a fabulously wealthy kingdom . . . — — Map (db m55274) HM
In 1855, the new town of Lecompton was named the capital of Kansas Territory. President James Buchanan appointed a governor and officials to establish government offices in Lecompton, and construction began on an elegant capitol building. In the . . . — — Map (db m88763) HM
Topeka was founded in 1854 at the site of Papan's Ferry where a branch of the Oregon Trail crossed the Kansas river as early as 1842. Anti-slavery leaders framed the Topeka Constitution, 1855, in the first attempt to organize a state government. The . . . — — Map (db m20479) HM
In a park three miles north and one mile west is the exact geographic center of the 48 contiguous states. The location has been officially established by the U.S. Geological Survey. It is the point where a plane map of the 48 states would balance . . . — — Map (db m46589) HM
In a park three miles north and one mile west is the exact geographic center of the 48 contiguous states. The location has been officially established by the U.S. Geological Survey. It is the point where a plane map of the 48 states would balance if . . . — — Map (db m71928) HM
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