Along the Santa Fe Trail in Rice County, Kansas

by Marjorie Seaton Marshall

Howard and I were raised in Lyons, Kansas, not far from where the Santa Fe Trail passed through Rice County.  Both of us graduated from high school there, so we go back for our class reunions.   In September 2005, we met with the Class of 1950 - but before dinner we drove around some of the places where the Marshalls and the Seatons had lived in years past.  My family lived just north of Saxman for a few years, so we went past the old house which is in an advanced state of decay.  I believe it's on the southeast corner of the intersection of Avenue Q and 20th Road.  About half a mile north of the intersection are the markers shown just below.  38' 17" N, 98'07" W (approximated)

 

We went to an all-school reunion in 2008, and this time we drove about four miles west of Lyons, and a mile or so south to the Buffalo Bill Mathewson well.  I just looked it up on Google Maps and the well is at the junction of 12th Road and Avenue N.

The Father Padilla cross is at the intersection of Hwy. 56 and 12th Road.  See www.panoramio.com/photo/11179875

Santa Fe Trail Links

The Ranch at Cow Creek Crossing

Coronado-Quivira Museum, Lyons

"Through the influence of the Daughters, Jan. 29, 1906, the anniversary of the admission of Kansas into the Union, was designated as "Trail Day" in the public schools, to be observed with appropriate ceremonies, and the children were invited to contribute one cent each on that day to the fund marking the trail. Prizes were offered for the best essays on the trail, and the school contributing the largest collection was to be presented with a fine silk flag. The penny collection netted $584.40, which gave the Daughters $1,584.40 to expend for monuments. The material selected was a red granite from Oklahoma. C. W. Guild of Topeka agreed to prepare and inscribe the markers for $16 each, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, which follows approximately the line of the old trail, offered to transport them to the stations nearest their final destination free of cost. In most instances the expense of placing the markers in position was borne by the local authorities or a committee of citizens."   (The link I had used is no longer active.)

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