Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour.
At this location, Susan Shelby Magoffin noted in her diary* that a “nooning” camp was made on June 27, 1846. To date, she is the second documented white woman to travel the Santa Fe Trail, and was traveling with her husband, trader Samuel Magoffin and his caravan. She was 18 years old and pregnant, but was able to travel in her own Rockaway carriage with her own driver, as well as a female “servant” traveling in an accompanying conveyance. This location was a popular noon campsite because it is located between the normal night camps of Cottonwood Creek Crossing and Running Turkey Creek. The noon campsite provided opportunity for both man and beast to drink, eat/graze, and rest. This camping spot is noted in US Army Capt. Randolph Marcy’s 1859 book “The Prairie Traveler, A Handbook for Overland Expeditions” where he stated, “Water Holes—Water Generally; no wood.” At this location in 1861, Claude Francis “French Frank” Laloge, an 1857 French immigrant, and his partner, Peter Martin, established a trading ranche referred to as French Frank’s where travelers could obtain food, drink, and provisions. January 5, 1863 Laloge filed the first Homestead Entry (claim) in Marion County, KS under the 1862 Homestead Act for the quarter-section of land on which his ranche was located. Although he never “proved-up” and relinquished his rights to his claim, the intermittent stream across this site obtained the name French Creek. July 20, 1864, Ed Miller left French Frank’s headed southwest along the trail bound for Waterman’s Ranch. He encountered some Indians who chased him down and killed him. A few days later, having not arrived at Waterman’s, a search party was organized at French Frank’s, and Miller’s body was found about 4-3/4 miles to the southwest and buried beside the trail. Traffic virtually ceased on this portion of the Santa Fe Trail in 1866 when the railroad reached Junction City, KS, whereupon freight and mail went by wagon from Junction City via Ft. Harker (Ellswporth, KS) to reconnect with the Santa Fe Trail at the Great Bend of the Arkansas River. 1866 is when Laloge sold-out to George Russell and Laloge moved to the Cottonwood Valley in the Cedar Point, KS area. This site is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and has been designated by the National Park Service as a Certified Site on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. *To learn more about Susan Shelby Magoffin's travel refer to the book, "Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico" that is widely available and comes in a digital download format as well.
A variety of containers for the cache are used on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail Geo Tour including ammo canisters, brochure-holder boxes, "Bison" brand cannisters and "Pelican" brand plastic containers. All will be identified as part of the GeoTour and contains a logbook to sign, as well as swag items. If you are participating in the Passport activity, the code word is located on the inside of the box, on the top of the lid and is clearly identified as Code Word. Permission to set caches has been obtained. We ask that all cachers please respect all property at the sites where our caches are set.