The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-05
Now Abandoned and Allowed to
Drop From Memory.
III, PASSED NEAR Topeka
Frenchman First White Man to
Go Down Kaw Valley.
First Stage Coach Carried
+ Newspaper Men From East.

?
Overland stage route which. at one
time. was practically the only road
between Leavenworth and Denver. It
was positively the shortest route be-
tween the two western towns. The
nearest point to Topeka touched by
the famous old road was Indianola. At
one time Indianola was thriving lit
tie frontier town which rivaled Topeka
in size and was located about mile
northwest of the present site of the
fBoys' Industrial school.
But like the old frontier post of In
dianola, the trail il now chiefly a mat
ter Of history. Civilization has trans
formed parts of it into macadam roads.
Over the same road that their fore
fathers once Travelled in prairie
schOoners and stage coaches, the pres
ent generation whirls along In throb-
| bling. purring motor cars.
In a great many places parts OF the
! old road have been allowed to grow
up in weeds. There is little known
about the history of the trail prior to
1850. It's history before this time can
| best be described with the words OF
a well known writer of fiction who
describes a trail in the Ozarks as. NO
body knows how Old
Once an Indian Trail.
Before it was mapped out as a stage
line and military road it was an In
dian trail, beaten out by the foot OF
the first real American.
Buffalo and antelope once followed
it from their grazing lands to watering
Indian travelled the trail between his
hunting grounds and camp.
Then came the Latin and Saxon races
who Travelled it for the three prime fac
tors of life: hate. love and gold.
It is thought by some historians that
Bourgmont, a Frenchman, was the first
white man to follow the trail in the
vicinity Of Topeka Bourgmont made
an expedition up the Kaw river to the
land of the Comanches In the year OF
1924.
After this came the traders and
Jesuit Fathers. Colonel John C. FIRE.
mont passed over the trail on one OF
his famous expeditions into the great
uncivilized west.
when the California gold fever broke
out in the eastern states. many OF the
forty miners. impatient to get to the
land of gold. travelled the trail, braved
death on the Great American Desert
and crossed the Rocky mountains TO
California. Many Of them took the
trail at Leavenworth because it at
| forded a shorter distance to travel than
the Oregon and Santa Fee trails.
Authorized in 1853.
On March 3, 1853, congress authorised
| that the trail be made q military road
between the two most important forts
| in the west, Leavenworth and Fort
Riley. Congress made an approprta-
ton of 81. 725 to be used in bridging a
number of streams. including the Blue
| river and Grasshopper and Soldier
creeks Later the road was extended
west. Between Leavenworth and Fort
Riley the road passed through Salt
Creek, Easton, Hardtville, Ozawkie.
Indianola, silver Lake, Ogden. Man.
haitian and west through Junction City
| to Fort Riley. The Butterfield Overland
dispatch route was laid out over the
| TN, nd avfanAAd nan.
yer and northwest to Laporte where it
struck the Overland stage route.
| The road was one of the main military
| thoroughfare Of the west during the In
dian and Civil wars. Soldiers going
west to suppress unruly tribes Of In
dams passed through Indianola almost
every day. Every day prairie schooners
loaded with homesteaders and freight
ers on their way to Colorado, Santa F'e
and Oregon traversed the route. At
night the course of the trail could be
plainly traced by the campfires.
| Report of Gold.
| It was about this time that the report
was sent east that there was gold In
western Kansas and Colorado. The
( Butterfield Overland dispatch stages
| carried hundreds Of the prospectors to
the gold fields.
| The first stage coach to arrive in
| Denver over the Butterfield route car
ried three newspaper men. Henry
Willard Of the Cincinnati Commercial. a
representative OF the New York Tribune
and a man named Richardson Of tho
| Boston Journal, were among the first
| to investigate the report that gold was
to be found in western Kansas.
| Gold was not found there at that time
but it was later found by the sturdy
Saxon races in the form Of fields of
| ripened wheat.
| During the gold excitement . stage
line was also operated over the Leaven-
worth road between Topeka and Pixies
Peak. The stage line operating between
Lcavenworth and Denver was known as
the Leavenworth and Pixies Peak ex-
press. The company carried both pas
| sengers and mail.
The stage lines were operated sue
| cessfully for q number Of years until
| the railroads.&c. trails Of the iron
horse, the Indians called them-began
| to push their way westward with the
! course OF civilization. One by one the
stage lines were forced out of business.
One by one railroads were built into the
west. across the Rocky mountains to
| the Pacific.
Two Of the greatest railroads in the
west now follow practically the same
route as did the Butterfield stage lines.
i The crack overland express trains now
| cover the distance from Chicago to the
| coast in sixty-two hours, while 1t took
weeks for the stages to make the dis
lance. CAYLOR.
/ Suits Drv Ceaned 75c