3. Explorers
SPANISH –
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado - 1540 – is given credit for being the first
white explorer to visit the Smoky Hill valley
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
FRENCH –
Etienne Veniard – 1724 – probably the 1st white man to travel the entire
length of the Smoky Hill River
AMERICAN –
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
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!!
In 1858, gold was discovered in Cherry Creek next to the
Rocky Mountains which was in the Kansas Territory at the
time
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
There were cutoff routes to Denver from both the
Oregon and the Santa Fe Trails, but they took longer
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
Began
Leavenworth
Went through
Abilene
Salina
Ellsworth
Hays
Wallace County
Old Cheyenne Wells
(headwaters of the river begin
there)
Three different trails from this
point
North Trail – route is pretty close
to present day Interstate
70/U.S. 40
South Trail – more of western
route to present day Kiowa
and then northwest to Denver
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
9. “Starvation Trail”
~
1859
The Middle Trail became known by this name because of the
gruesome story of the Blue Brothers and cannibalism
Alexander, Daniel and Charles – Whiteside County, Illinois
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
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
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
Soley died first, then Alexander, then Charles; Daniel was near death when found
by Arapahoe Indians who nursed him back to good health
Daniel arrived in Denver on May 11
Travel on the Smoky Hill trail practically stopped after people heard Daniel Blue’s
story
10. Building a better route
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
Henry Green headed the road-building crew which left
Leavenworth on June 18, 1860 and reached Denver after 54 days
Green sent back a positive report to Leavenworth saying the road
was good for travelers
However, the anticipated stampede did not happen
Kansas became a state in 1861
Rumblings of war began – Civil War
But….the greatest impact was yet to come
11. David A. Butterfield
Born on January 17, 1834 in
Franklin County, Maine
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
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
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
Lieutenant Julian Fitch was the surveyor who began the
survey on June 13, 1865 in Atchison and arrived in
Denver on August 7
Changes that were made did make the trip faster, but
not necessarily safer
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
Stations were set up at various places along the
trail
40 stations
16 were home stations where passengers could get meals
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
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
The first passenger stagecoach left Atchison on
September 11 and arrived in Denver September
23
Passenger fare was $175 without meals
26. Indian Troubles
The B.O.D. freight and passengers had a great risk
traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail in the latter part of
1865
Indians became desperate when their hunting grounds
were invaded by the B.O.D. and they started hunting the
white men
First attack on a stagecoach was near Monument
Station (Gove County) on October 2, 1865
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
Fort Ellsworth (southwest of Kanopolis)
August 1864 and renamed Fort
Harker in November 1866
Abandoned in 1867
Fort Harker (in Kanopolis)
A new site
Closed and abandoned in 1872
Fort Fletcher (south of Walker)
October 11, 1865
Abandoned May 5, 1866
Re-established October 17, 1866
Became Fort Hays on November
17, 1866
Flooded in June of 1867 and
moved
Fort Hays
June 23, 1867
Closed and abandoned
November 8, 1889
Fort Wallace (southeast of
Wallace)
October 26, 1865
Abandoned May 31, 1882
28. Ben Holladay
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
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
He offered to purchase the B.O.D. line to offset the route that
Wells Fargo was starting from the Missouri River
Purchase was complete in March 1866
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
Spring of 1867 - the Indians began attacking various B.O.D. stations
Maj. General Philip Sheridan was post commander at Fort Hays until 1869
when Col. Nelson Miles took over in April
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
June was one of the bloodiest months in the fighting, most of which was
west of Fort Hays
It was also the month that Fort Hays was flooded, and then moved to its present
location
The Kansas Pacific Railroad, laying rails across the state, was also victim of
the hostilities
Seven railroad workers were killed just east of Victoria on August 1
Spring 1868 and Spring 1869 – Indians started attacking again
1870 brought a more peaceful atmosphere
30. The Union Pacific Eastern Division
Railroad
Began construction in Kansas City in 1863
It became the Kansas Pacific on May 31, 1868
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
As the railroad was built on west, the B.O.D. stations were
either abandoned or taken over by settlers
The rails reached Denver and the stagecoaches stopped
running on August 18, 1870
The Butterfield Overland Despatch became history
31. Cow towns / Cattle trails
Kansas had passed a law in 1865 prohibiting Texas cattle from
coming through the Kansas farmlands
Farmers did not like having cattle from the trails roaming over their lands
with their own cattle
The line was about sixty miles west of Topeka, so west of that line there
were no restrictions
Joseph McCoy, of Springfield, Illinois, owned a livestock shipping
business
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
Junction City, Solomon City, and Salina did not want the cattle
He couldn’t go further west because the rails were not built that far yet
Abilene, a little town on Mud Creek, wanted the cattle trade
32. Cow towns / Cattle trails
Chisholm Trail – started in Texas and ended in Abilene from
1867-1871
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
Later ended in Newton, Wichita and Caldwell
Ellsworth - became a cattle town and shipping point for the
Chisholm Trail as the railroad moved west (1871-1875)
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
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
Dick Jordan and George
Jordan
Buffalo hunters from Ellis
Fred Nelson
A young Swedish boy who
worked for the brothers
Mrs. Dick Jordan
Had recently lost her baby
and did not want to stay
home by herself
They planned to hunt along the Smoky
Hill River and go south towards Fort
Dodge; planned to be gone 6 or 7
weeks
About the time the party should have
returned to Ellis, two wagons were
found along Walnut Creek in Ness
County
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
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
German Family
John and Lydia
Rebecca – 20
Stephen – 19
Catherine – 17
Joanna – 15
Sophia – 12
Juliana – 7
Addie - 5
Left Missouri on August 15, 1874
and by the night of September 10,
they were within a day’s ride to
Fort Wallace.
As they got ready to set out the
next day, a band of warriors,
including two squaws, attacked
the family
John, Lydia, Rebecca, Stephen
and Joanna were killed in the
attack
Catherine, Sophia, Juliana and
Addie were kidnapped
Remains of the German family are
in the Fort Wallace post cemetery
38. More hostilities
“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
More than 3 years later in September 1878
Soldiers were ambushed about 30 miles southeast of Fort
Wallace, killing 1 soldier and injuring 2 others
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
This was the last Indian raid on Kansas soil
39. Tragic ending of David Butterfield’s
life
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
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
David passed away the following morning, leaving
behind a wife, four daughters and one son
40. Howard Raynesford
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”
Raynesford was born and raised on a farm southwest of Ellis and raised
his own family on a dairy farm outside of Ellis
A historian who became Director of the Kansas State Historical Society
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
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
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.
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
47. Smoky Hill Trail Association
Membership Information
Yearly fees range from $10 to
$100
Categories include:
Student
Individual
Family
Institution
Business
Patrons (supports, but not
involved)
Lifetime ($500)
Website
http://www.smokyhilltrail.com/
Good afternoon – thank you for coming today to my presentation on the Smoky Hill Trail.
The Smoky Hill River runs about 12 miles south of here. Its headwaters are in Cheyenne County, Colorado (just to the west of Wallace County in Kansas). It runs to Junction City where it joins the Republican River to become the Kansas River.
These are the known first explorers to visit the Smoky Hill valley. The valley’s hills were so named because their hazy, blue appearance at sunrise and sunset. El Quartelejo – its ruins are in Scott County in Kansas
Here is a map of the Kansas Territory which shows just how far west the boundary was. If the boundary stayed the same, Kansas would be the home of Pikes Peak, Denver and Central City!
Why was Colorado Territory created? By 1861, the South had seceded, clearing the way for the northern politicians to begin creating free-labor states. On February 28, 1861, Congress combined pieces of Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, and New Mexico to make a large rectangle of land it designated Colorado Territory. (history.com)
This green line is the Smoky Hill Trail route through Kansas
Map of the trail in eastern Colorado (POINT to the headwaters) It is not hard to imagine how desolate this area was at that time. If you have ever taken the Kiowa road to Denver from Limon, as I have, you will know that, even today, there is not much of anything out there for miles and miles. Now take note of the Middle Branch.
The Middle Branch or Trail became known as the Starvation Trail because….
To try to bring traffic back to the trail in 1860….
The new route was called the Butterfield Overland Despatch (that is not a misspelling!)
I am now going to show maps of today that show the route of the trail. This has the old route from Leavenworth and the route that David Butterfield started from Atchison.
North Branch – present day Interstate 70 closely follows the route of the North Branch into Denver; Middle Branch or Starvation Trail was not used; South Branch – goes through Kiowa and Sulpher Gulch and then turns north into Denver
Brevet Major General;
The Union Pacific Gravesite contains the remains of six of the workers; it is located by the railroad bridge just south of Victoria; the seventh worker survived his injuries long enough to make it to Fort Hays but died there; he was buried at the fort cemetery, but those graves have since been relocated to the national cemetery at Fort Leavenworth
The building of the railroad is a whole other story, and I am not going to delve into that. Here is just a little bit of info.
Cattlemen and cow towns are the next story of the trail.
Dodge City through Ness, Trego, Graham and Decatur Counties
Hays City-Ellis Trail; point out the Fort Hays-Fort Dodge Military Trail
Even with the cattle drives, the railroad running to Denver, and settlers moving in further west, Indians were still renewing their war against the white man
The German family was from Georgia, and had decided to move west after their land was devastated during the Civil War. According to newspaper reports and army bulletins, the Smoky Hill Valley was safe and there were no more Indian raids. The family made their way to Ellsworth along the Smoky Hill and followed the railroad past Fort Hays. At Ellis they were told to go south to the river and follow the old BOD trail because there was not enough water if they stayed near the railroad. Given assurances that there were no more Indians, the family turned south to follow the trail. CLICK three times to bring up next points.
Late in September near McClellan Creek in the Texas Panhandle, the Indians left Julia and Addie on the prairie; the little girls found an abandoned army camp, and the food scraps nearby, along with wild berries and grapes, kept them alive.
After the bodies of the girls’ family were found, the army went after the Indians to try to find the kidnapped girls. Catherine and Sophia were now in the main camp of Stone Calf, the Cheyenne chief and they were forced to do the work of the squaws and were beaten. When Stone Calf found out the army was demanding the release of the 4 girls, he sent his warriors back out to the prairie to find the two youngest and bring them back to camp. After the Indians found them and were in the process of taking them back to the main camp, on November 7, members of the Army charged into their camp and after many hours of fighting, the two girls were found okay. Sophia and Catherine were then used as bargaining chips for supplies by the Indians, but fearing the girls would be killed, the army waited. The Indians finally gave up and released the girls to the Cheyenne Agency on February 26, 1875.
All four of the girls lived fairly long lives with Julia living for 92 years. CLICK for one more post – cemetery
Map of the various Indian raids and battles; as you can see many took place along the Smoky Hill trail
Jere DeBacher – great-grandson of David Butterfield is a member
The association has an annual conference and one of the highlights is a bus trip that takes attendees along the trail; this is one that I took in Denver
There are two other statues: The Prospector and The Pioneer Mother
(the dome was being restored at that time)
The conferences are held in the towns along the trail. Previous conferences have been in Junction City, Salina, Oakley, Limon, Parker, Hays, and Russell.
I have some brochures and we have a few members of the board who are here, and they can also answer any questions.