Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour. Containers on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail Geo Tour are military ammunition canisters, or Brochure-Holder boxes, with an identifying Santa Fe Trail Association yellow sticker on the top of the box, under the handle and the dark green geocaching.com ID is on the side of the boxes with the information that provides coordinates, who set the cache and who to contact for information. Each cache contains a logbook to sign, a variety of items that provide information about the Santa Fe Trail 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.
The Santa Fe Trail passed by this area bringing people and trade goods along the route. Travelers had to make a determination of the best place to cross the Arkansas River. Although today, this river is generally a dry bed of sand, historically it was a significant river. Besides being a source of good drinking water for people and livestock, the Arkansas River formed the border with Mexico until 1846. Prior to the establishment of Bent’s Old Fort (near present-day Las Animas, CO) Santa Fe Trail traffic crossed that Arkansas River at several places to follow what was known as the Cimarron Route to Santa Fe. When Bent’s Fort was established north of the Arkansas River in 1833, Santa Fe Trail traffic could follow the Cimarron Route, or what became known as the Raton Route, or the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail. The fort was an active trading post from 1833 to 1849.
The Cimarron Ranch and Stage Station was located about two miles west of present-day Cimarron, Kansas. One of the most used crossings of the Arkansas River was located there. Another crossing was just below the present-day site of the Ingalls Feedyard, at the upper end of Nine Mile Ridge.
Farther up the Arkansas, was the well-known landmark of Chouteau's Island, another crossing of the Arkansas River. Some parties crossed to the south side of the river before reaching the Island, but still stayed close to the Arkansas. At the crossing at Chouteau's Island, six miles to the south through the sandhills, was a shallow pass known as Bear Creek Pass. This pass allowed for easier crossing of the deep sand of the area with the oxen and mules pulling the heavy freight wagons. It was in this pass that trader Charles Bent was attacked by Indians. The route to the Cimarron River headed almost straight south from Chauteau's Island for about thirty five miles to the Lower Spring.
Crossing the Arkansas River was often dangerous because of high water and quicksand. It also became a place of frequent Indian attacks because the wagon trains were spread out, with some on both sides of the river and some crossing the river. The river, at times, was ¾ mile wide.
Rebecca Mayer, traveling the Santa Fe Trail in 1852, gave this description of crossing the Arkansas River: “I think it was about the third of September when we arrived at the spot where we intended to camp for the night, intending to cross the Arkansas River. The water was the color of clay and the bed of the river is full of quicksands. It is dangerous to stand still for a moment if attempting to take a bath. At the crossing we met many Indians and for some crackers they helped by pushing our wagons across the river, but the trouble of watching they did not steal anything overbalanced the aid they gave. The men of the tribe waded across the river while the women and children sat on the bank one behind the other.”
After crossing the Arkansas River on the Cimarron Route, there began the most hazardous segment of the journey, across "La Jornada” - the journey - to the Cimarron River.
For further reading:
Stocking, Hobart (1971). The Road to Santa Fe. New York: Hastings House Publishers.ISBN 978-0-8038-6314-9. Page 158. Talks about la Jornada.