By KAREN MADORIN
This next trip offers the chance to see central Kansas from a different perspective. While most is flat land perfect for farming, this remnant of an ancient sea rises above the prairie, offering a rare perspective to natives, Santa Fe Trail travelers, settlers, and modern visitors.
On a recent exploration of said Santa Fe Trail, I visited Pawnee Rock and wondered why I put that journey off for so long.
This wet, early June—not too hot nor too cold--was perfect for travel through this country. Ash Creek, the Pawnee and Arkansas Rivers, as well as waving grain fields surround the rise, contributing treelined breaks that interrupt a flat horizon line that combines with the stark beauty of this vertical limestone mound rising in the midst of surrounding plains.
As our group traveled down Highway 156 toward this approximate mid-point of the Santa Fe Trail, I mulled its long history and importance to indigenous people and more recent trekkers on this ancient route. According to one resource, Santa Fe trail travelers could view not only area game and water resources, but also Forts Zarah and Larned in the distance. Standing atop the monument, I could see that would have been possible.
Native tribes climbed the heights to survey the landscape and observe game and other tribes traveling through the region. Anyone atop this highpoint had a vantage point that extended for miles, making it difficult for anyone to sneak up. What a bonus when planning a bison or other wild game hunt or an attack on invaders.
According to sources, this site offered an obvious meeting point. It also added danger to Santa Fe merchant trains that camped nearby. Several area tribes attacked those campsites. One treasure hunting source shared that trail travelers frequently cached valuables when they arrived in the area, suggesting that those who didn’t survive such attacks left buried treasure behind. It makes an interesting, unsubstantiated story.
Who knows the truth about treasure, but this was a place where some travelers ended their journeys. One of them, Nehemiah Carson—a private who fought in the Mexican War with the Missouri Infantry—died at the site and was buried in 1846. A stark white military marker identifies his last resting place for site visitors. His last resting place adds poignancy to a visit.
By the time railroads replaced the Santa Fe Trail, construction crews collected rock from the heights to create bed for tracks they laid. Incoming settlers continued harvesting hard to come by stone to build foundations for homes, barns, and businesses, considerably lowering the peak of Pawnee Rock over time.
To allow visitors to see the region from its original height, park managers constructed a metal tower complete with spiral staircase to permit visitors to access the platform for a 360-degree view of the surrounding region that equaled the original view seen by natives and early pioneers. The winding climb that offers a view for miles around is worth the effort. Those who reach this point see surrounding waterways, farm fields, regional grain elevators, and highways that have replaced dirt trails. The only things missing were bison herds and natives riding ponies.
Put this one on your agenda. It will transport you back in time while letting you see the present from a new perspective.