Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour.
The Plum Buttes were located 4 miles west of Chase, Kansas, on US Highway 56, 1 mile north on a gravel road, and then 1 mile west. Plum Buttes referred to several very large sand dunes that were covered by plum bushes. These highly visible dunes became landmarks for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, who sought to avoid the soft, sandy, and nearly impassable soils along the Arkansas River. Plum Buttes was a favorite nooning spot on the trail, and because it was the only landmark in the vicinity, it was often used as a reference point to delineate the location of significant events. Thus, the 1867 massacre near Ralph's Ruts, 1 mile east, is known as the Plum Buttes Massacre. The last dune, still visible in the 1870s and 1880s, had disappeared because of wind erosion by 1900. Today, only small sandhills are visible, however, they still have sandhill plum bushes on them and are ripe for picking in August. They are tart, dark pink to light red, and about the size of a small cherry. They make fabulous jelly, but if you eat too many, you could get a stomach ache!
It was near Plum Buttes that the wagon train of trader Franz Huning was attacked September 9, 1867, by a band of Indians led by Charley Bent. To read more about this event, just google "Plum Buttes Massacre"
The container on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail Geo Tour at this site is a large Bison canister. The cache 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 canister, on the inside 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. Please make sure to return the canister to it's hanging spot.