Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour. the container at this site is a "Bison" brand cannister, about 4" tall and round. The cache contains a logbook to sign, as well as small swag items. If you are participating in the Passport activity, the code word is located on the inside of the cannister, 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.
Even before the Santa Fe Trail was established, this naturally-occurring rock formation was used as a way-finder for nearby Chouteau's Island. After the establishment of trade with Santa Fe, this mound was used to also denote the location of the Upper Arkansas River crossings; thus, this location marked the last major opportunity to choose between the Mountain or Cimarron routes of the Santa Fe Trail. Indian Mound is nationally significant as part of the "Historic Resources of the Santa Fe Trail" for its association with transportation and commerce along the Santa Fe Trail. The period of significance begins with the initiation of trail traffic over this segment in 1821 and ends with the abandonment of this section of the trail by March 1870 when the Union Pacific Eastern Division Railroad (Kansas Pacific) reached Kit Carson, Colorado. This site materially reflects important historic events outlined in the historic contexts: International Trade on the Mexican Road, 1821-1846; The Mexican-American War and the Santa Fe Trail, 1846-1848; Expanding National Trade on the Santa Fe Trail, 1848-1861; The Civil War and the Santa Fe Trail, 1861-1865; and The Santa Fe Trail and the Railroad, 1865-1880, as well as the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas. There is a DAR commemorative marker atop the mound. This site was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places on 7-17-2013.