Forsyth Friday Forum with Patty Nicholas Forsyth Library February 13,2015

1. Remember the
Smoky Hill Trail!
PATTY NICHOLAS
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIAN, FORSYTH LIBRARY

2. Smoky Hill River
http://geology.com/lakes-rivers-water/
kansas.shtml

3. Explorers
u SPANISH –
u Francisco Vasquez de Coronado - 1540 – is given credit for being the first
white explorer to visit the Smoky Hill valley
u Juan de Ulibarri - 1706 – looking for a band of Picuries at El Cuartelejo, he
may have come as far north as the Smoky Hill River
u FRENCH –
u Etienne Veniard – 1724 – probably the 1st white man to travel the entire
length of the Smoky Hill River
u AMERICAN –
u Zebulon Pike – 1806 – explored the headwaters of the rivers to the west and
he, no doubt, was near the Smoky Hill River as he discovered the peak that
bears his name
u John C. Fremont – 1842 - with Kit Carson as his guide, John was the first
explorer in the name of the United States to explore the entire length of the
Smoky Hill River

4. Gold!!
u In 1858, gold was discovered in Cherry Creek next to the
Rocky Mountains which was in the Kansas Territory at the
time
u Gold seekers wanted to find the fastest way to the Rocky
Mountains, and an old Indian trail to the north of the
Smoky Hill River became the most direct route to the
gold fields in 1859
u There were cutoff routes to Denver from both the
Oregon and the Santa Fe Trails, but they took longer
u Named the Smoky Hill Trail, it became the most traveled
route, despite the fact that it was also the most
dangerous because of the possibility of Indian attacks
and the scarcity of water

5. Kansas Territory - 1854-1861
Historical Atlas of Kansas, 2nd Edition by Homer E.
Socolofsky and Huber Self

6. Smoky Hill Trail Routes
u Began
u Leavenworth
u Went through
u Abilene
u Salina
u Ellsworth
u Hays
u Wallace County
u Old Cheyenne Wells
(headwaters of the river begin
there)
u Three different trails from this
point
u North Trail – route is pretty close
to present day Interstate 70/
U.S. 40
u South Trail – more of western
route to present day Kiowa
and then northwest to Denver
u Middle Trail - went west from
Lake, near present-day Limon,
then turned northwest to
Denver where it met the South
Trail

7. Historical Atlas of Kansas, 2nd Edition by
Homer E. Socolofsky and Huber Self
Map of the Smoky Hill Trail Route
Route through our state

8. Trail in Colorado

9. “Starvation Trail”
~
1859
u The Middle Trail became known by this name because of the
gruesome story of the Blue Brothers and cannibalism
u Alexander, Daniel and Charles – Whiteside County, Illinois
u Their party set out for the gold fields in February 1859 and eventually made it to
the headwaters of the river near Cheyenne Wells around March 17
u A blizzard caused them to become disoriented and they traveled in circles; after
the blizzard, several members of the party were able to travel on to Denver
u Weak and exhausted, the 4 members left behind (the 3 brothers and a man
named Soley) made requests that if he died, the others could eat his body to
strengthen themselves
u Soley died first, then Alexander, then Charles; Daniel was near death when found
by Arapahoe Indians who nursed him back to good health
u Daniel arrived in Denver on May 11
u Travel on the Smoky Hill trail practically stopped after people heard Daniel Blue’s
story

10. Building a better route
u The towns along the eastern part of the Smoky Hill Trail in Kansas
came up with a plan to outfit an expedition to build a road up the
Smoky Valley
u Henry Green headed the road-building crew which left
Leavenworth on June 18, 1860 and reached Denver after 54 days
u Green sent back a positive report to Leavenworth saying the road
was good for travelers
u However, the anticipated stampede did not happen
u Kansas became a state in 1861
u Rumblings of war began – Civil War
u But….the greatest impact was yet to come

11. David A. Butterfield
u Born on January 17, 1834 in
Franklin County, Maine
u He was intrigued by the West, so
he moved his family to Kansas in
1856, and then to Denver in 1862
after the Civil War broke out
u He dreamed of operating a
stage and freight line from the
Missouri River to Denver going
across Kansas; moved his family
to Atchison in 1864

12. Butterfield Overland
Despatch
This route is not to be confused with the Butterfield
Overland Mail Route which was established by John
Butterfield (no relation) in 1858 and operated through
1861
Its route started in St. Louis, went down through western
Arkansas and turned west across Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona and then turned north again in California towards
San Francisco

13. Trail Survey
u Butterfield wanted to use much of the same route as the
earlier Smoky Hill Trail, but his road had to be shorter and
safer; he commissioned a survey of the route
u Lieutenant Julian Fitch was the surveyor who began the
survey on June 13, 1865 in Atchison and arrived in
Denver on August 7
u Changes that were made did make the trip faster, but
not necessarily safer
u In Colorado Territory, the Middle Trail (Starvation Trail) was
bypassed because of the lack of water; the original
North and South Trails were used

14. Making of the trail for
stagecoaches and freight
u Stations were set up at various places along the
trail
u 40 stations
u 16 were home stations where passengers could get meals
u The state was settled between Atchison and Fort
Riley, so there were not any stations listed for
that part of the route

15. Butterfield Overland Despatch
u First wagon train carrying 150,000 pounds of
freight left Atchison on June 24, in the shadows
of the survey team who left on June 13
u The first passenger stagecoach left Atchison on
September 11 and arrived in Denver September
23
u Passenger fare was $175 without meals

16. Atchison to Soldier Creek &
Leavenworth to north of Topeka

17. Two trails come together at Louisville and
then on to Junction City

18. Junction City, Abilene, Salina and
Bavaria

19. Old Highway 40 follows the trail here –
Brookville, Fort Harker, Ellsworth & Bunker Hill

20. Bunker Hill, Fossil Creek Station (Russell), Fort Fletcher,
Big Creek, Lookout & Stormy Hollow Stations

21. Stormy Hollow, Downer’s and Chalk Bluffs
Stations; Fort Downer - temporary outpost

22. Chalk Bluffs and Monument Stations,
Russell Springs and Fort Wallace

23. Fort Wallace into Colorado; trail splits at
Cheyenne Wells into North Branch and South
Branch

24. North Branch and South Branch meet at Willow
Spring, then split apart west of Lake Station

25. The North and South Branches
head into Denver

26. Indian Troubles
u The B.O.D. freight and passengers had a great risk
traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail in the latter part of
1865
u Indians became desperate when their hunting grounds
were invaded by the B.O.D. and they started hunting the
white men
u First attack on a stagecoach was near Monument
Station (Gove County) on October 2, 1865
u This and other attacks prompted the establishment of Fort
Fletcher on October 11

27. Forts already in existence/established along the trail
in Western Kansas for protection from the hostile
Indians
u Fort Ellsworth (southwest of Kanopolis)
u August 1864 and renamed Fort
Harker in November 1866
u Abandoned in 1867
u Fort Harker (in Kanopolis)
u A new site
u Closed and abandoned in 1872
u Fort Fletcher (south of Walker)
u October 11, 1865
u Abandoned May 5, 1866
u Re-established October 17, 1866
u Became Fort Hays on November
17, 1866
u Flooded in June of 1867 and
moved
u Fort Hays
u June 23, 1867
u Closed and abandoned
November 8, 1889
u Fort Wallace (southeast of
Wallace)
u October 26, 1865
u Abandoned May 31, 1882

28. Ben Holladay
u Butterfield’s stage and freight lines were losing money on the
Smoky Hill route because of the Indian attacks; people were
using the longer route through Nebraska and Colorado
u Ben Holladay had a mail contract from the Missouri River to
Denver along the Platte River (Pony Express that ran in the
northeast part of the state) and he had Army protection
along the route
u He offered to purchase the B.O.D. line to offset the route that
Wells Fargo was starting from the Missouri River
u Purchase was complete in March 1866
u Spread too thin, Ben began having his own financial
difficulties and sold his company to Wells Fargo on November
1, 1866

29. More trouble with the Indians
u Spring of 1867 - the Indians began attacking various B.O.D. stations
u Maj. General Philip Sheridan was post commander at Fort Hays until 1869
when Col. Nelson Miles took over in April
u Bvt. Maj. General George Custer was moved to Fort Hays during the
summer of 1867 from Fort Riley due to the hostilities of the Indians along the
Smoky Hill
u June was one of the bloodiest months in the fighting, most of which was
west of Fort Hays
u It was also the month that Fort Hays was flooded, and then moved to its present
location
u The Kansas Pacific Railroad, laying rails across the state, was also victim of
the hostilities
u Seven railroad workers were killed just east of Victoria on August 1
u Spring 1868 and Spring 1869 – Indians started attacking again
u 1870 brought a more peaceful atmosphere

30. The Union Pacific Eastern Division
Railroad
u Began construction in Kansas City in 1863
u It became the Kansas Pacific on May 31, 1868
u Through the Indian attacks, the railroad still kept laying tracks
in Western Kansas and by January 1870, the rails reached
Eagle Tail Station in Colorado
u As the railroad was built on west, the B.O.D. stations were
either abandoned or taken over by settlers
u The rails reached Denver and the stagecoaches stopped
running on August 18, 1870
u The Butterfield Overland Despatch became history

31. Cow towns / Cattle trails
u Kansas had passed a law in 1865 prohibiting Texas cattle from
coming through the Kansas farmlands
u Farmers did not like having cattle from the trails roaming over their lands
with their own cattle
u The line was about sixty miles west of Topeka, so west of that line there
were no restrictions
u Joseph McCoy, of Springfield, Illinois, owned a livestock shipping
business
u McCoy came up with the idea in 1867 to ship cattle using the
railroads and decided to locate a market that was near the Smoky
Hill River
u Junction City, Solomon City, and Salina did not want the cattle
u He couldn’t go further west because the rails were not built that far yet
u Abilene, a little town on Mud Creek, wanted the cattle trade

32. Cow towns / Cattle trails
u Chisholm Trail – started in Texas and ended in Abilene from
1867-1871
u Chisholm Trail was so named because a portion of it followed a
wagon trail that had been in use by Jesse Chisholm, an Indian trader
u Later ended in Newton, Wichita and Caldwell
u Ellsworth - became a cattle town and shipping point for the
Chisholm Trail as the railroad moved west (1871-1875)
u Hays – it never became a shipping point because the farmers
cut off the road to Ellsworth, but it was on the Western Trail
which ran from Bandera, Texas to Dodge City to Ogallala,
Nebraska
u The Great Western Cattle Trail was longer in length and carried
cattle for two years longer than the Chisholm Trail

33. The Western: The Greatest Texas Cattle Trail
By Gary and Margaret Kraisinger

34. The Western: The Greatest Texas Cattle Trail
By Gary and Margaret Kraisinger

35. Massacre in Western Kansas along
the trail
September 1872
u Dick Jordan and George
Jordan
u Buffalo hunters from Ellis
u Fred Nelson
u A young Swedish boy who
worked for the brothers
u Mrs. Dick Jordan
u Had recently lost her baby
and did not want to stay
home by herself
u They planned to hunt along the Smoky
Hill River and go south towards Fort
Dodge; planned to be gone 6 or 7
weeks
u About the time the party should have
returned to Ellis, two wagons were
found along Walnut Creek in Ness
County
u The bodies of Dick Jordan and Fred
were found by the wagons; the body
of George Jordan was found across
the creek where he had tried to get
away
u Mrs. Dick Jordan’s apron and bonnet
were nearby; she was never found and
is believed to have been killed before
the Indians went back to their
reservation

36. The last trail tragedy –
September 11, 1874
u German Family
u John and Lydia
u Rebecca – 20
u Stephen – 19
u Catherine – 17
u Joanna – 15
u Sophia – 12
u Juliana – 7
u Addie - 5
u Left Missouri on August 15, 1874
and by the night of September 10,
they were within a day’s ride to
Fort Wallace.
u As they got ready to set out the
next day, a band of warriors,
including two squaws, attacked
the family
u John, Lydia, Rebecca, Stephen
and Joanna were killed in the
attack
u Catherine, Sophia, Juliana and
Addie were kidnapped
u Remains of the German family are
in the Fort Wallace post cemetery

37. Historical Atlas of
Kansas, 2nd
Edition by Homer
E. Socolofsky and
Huber Self

38. More hostilities
u “Remember the German girls” – In April 1875, Lieutenant
Henely led a group of soldiers to an Indian camp on
Middle Sappa Creek (Rawlins County) where there was
a battle that ended with 19 warriors and 8 squaws and
children being killed, along with 2 soldiers
u More than 3 years later in September 1878
u Soldiers were ambushed about 30 miles southeast of Fort
Wallace, killing 1 soldier and injuring 2 others
u As the Indians fled, they killed 20 men in Decatur County and 11
men in Rawlins County, and others in Nebraska before being
captured near Fort Robinson
u This was the last Indian raid on Kansas soil

39. Tragic ending of David Butterfield’s
life
u After he sold the Butterfield Overland Despatch to Ben
Holladay in 1866, he and his family moved to Hot Springs,
Arkansas where he started up a street car system
u On March 27, 1875, he approached a couple of
employees at his stable about their alleged abuses of
the stock; one of them hit David on the head with a stick
of wood, striking him unconscious
u David passed away the following morning, leaving
behind a wife, four daughters and one son

40. Howard Raynesford
u Much of the information in this presentation came from a book written
by Howard C. Raynesford and Wayne C. Lee titled “Trails of the Smoky
Hill: From Coronado to the Cow Towns”
u Raynesford was born and raised on a farm southwest of Ellis and raised
his own family on a dairy farm outside of Ellis
u A historian who became Director of the Kansas State Historical Society
u Mapped the BOD trail from Atchison to Denver in his spare time and he
was granted permission in 1963 from the State Legislature to place
stone-post markers at the right of ways where the trail crossed major
highways; he received no funds for doing this major project
u Original papers and maps are in the Kansas Room at the Hays Public
Library; copies are in the Smoky Hill Trail Association Archives located in
Special Collections here at Forsyth

41. Markers
Cement plaques for each
marker base were cast by
Raynesford
The plaques read as
follows:
Smoky Hill Trail Butterfield
Overland Dispatch Atchison
to Denver Traveled by Gen
Fremont 1844 First Denver
Stagecoach 1859 Most
Dangerous Overland Route
Retraced and Mapped By
Howard C. Raynesford Ellis
Kansas Marker Placed 1965
138 stone posts
Each was etched with
“BOD 1865”

42. Smoky Hill Trail Association
u The Smoky Hill Trail Association is dedicated to the
preservation, promotion, and interpretation of the
heritage of the Smoky Hill Trail. The Association was
founded in 2007.
u The Association is actively engaged in seeking National
Historic Trail status for the Smoky Hill Trail, under the
National Trails System Act. It also has an on-going project
of mapping and marking of the historic Trail.

43. 2013 Conference – Parker
A bus trip took us along the route from Seven-Mile Station near
Parker to the end of the trail in downtown Denver
Cherry
Creek
House at Four-Mile
Station

44. End of the Trail as it looks today
Downtown Denver -
Corner of Broadway and Colfax
Pioneer Monument
Kit Carson and his horse;
The Hunter (to the left)

45. End of the Smoky Hill Trail as it looks today
Broadway and Colfax Intersection
with the State Capital Building in the
background
Denver Public Library – a
couple of blocks away

46. 2015 Conference
Atchison, Kansas
October

47. Smoky Hill Trail Association
Membership Information
u Yearly fees range from $10 to
$100
u Categories include:
u Student
u Individual
u Family
u Institution
u Business
u Patrons (supports, but not
involved)
u Lifetime ($500)
Website
u http://www.smokyhilltrail.com/

48. “
”
Remember The
Smoky Hill Trail!
Thank you for coming today.