The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-22
TO BURLINCAME
BY AUTOMOBILE.
Many Places of Historic Inter-
est Along the Route.
Much of the Road Never Has
Been Changed.
ESTABLISHED YEARS AGO
Long Before Any Public Rec
Ords Were Kept Here.
The Town Is Years Older Than
Topeka.
The Burlingame Road!

The Burlingame Road,
What motoriSt or cOuntry-lov1nS
pedestrian has not heard of or tram
pied the dust of this famous highway
out of Topeka?
Will J. Stewart of Wakarusa, son
of the well known family that settled
in this part of the state in 1853, has
written a most fascinating history OF
the "Burlingame Road, its historical
value and the associations that mover
around its snake like trail out of the
capital city.
The Stewart article, tingling with
early Kansas events, as submitted to
the State Journal by the author, reads:
We are going to start on our ride
from the court house in Topeka, Tor
that is where the records exist. But
the Burlingame road was used for
years before any records were at
tempted. 1t was the old government
road from Fort Leavenworth to Coun-
Gil Grove. 1t branched off from the
old Oregon Trail at Soldier creek and
crossed the Kaw on Papan's ferry
just above the present location of the
Melan bridge. 1t followed the high
lands as much as possible for two rea-
sons: to give as wide observation as
possible for Indians and to avoid as
many streams as possible In the
early days it passed through what IS
now Auburn, but was then Brownvllle,
1t went this way as long as Whining
ton was a point to be reached.
An old record in the county clerks
office shows the first attempts to lay
out the road in a regular way. This
record is dated December IA, 1858.
and has a map attached showing the
section lines and the diagonal direc-
ton taken by the road. This map To-
Gated the road in almost the same po-
sition that it had been used for years.
nj
that move of this kind was neces-
sary because the road was being OBJ
structed by fences and blowing.
Followed No Line.
The diagonal direction allowed to
this road by not following section and
half section lines is what, in after
years, caused trouble, when people
wanted the road to follow such lines.
Because many costly improvements
were made on the old diagonal line
and could not be moved, such as at
the two Clark places.
This old petition shows that the
road started in front of Mr.. Dickey's
house." Now this house was built
of stone and stood at what is now
the corner of Western avenue and
Huntoon street. 1t was on claim,
and was almost the only house in
sight from that point. 1t belonged to
Milton c. Dickey, who came to Shaw
nee county in November, 1854, and
From Mr.. Dickeys house we will
go down to The bridge across the Shun-
ganunga, which was built in 1852.
This creek was named by the In
dams ages before the advent of white
men and the name means 1.-THE Race
Course.
Man and Horse Swept Away.
But the road was used many years
before the bridge was built One day
in early winter, some time in the
SOS, a missionary was travelling on
the Burlingame road and came to the
Shunganunga ford; the creek was in
one of it's sudden freshets and the mis-
sionary did not realize how high 1t
was and urged his horse in. Horse
and man were carried down stream
and the horse was drowned But the
man managed to grasp some bushes
on the south bank and scramble out,
nearly frozen. He wandered some
distance westward and encountered an
Indian who took him to a cabin and
he lay down by a fire to dry his
freeze to him.
South of the Shunganunga and a
little west of the Burlingame road is
the farm formerly occupied by Joe
Young, who came to Kansas with his
parents in 1855. His father en-
ployed a man named Seamore Hurst
for two years, only at last to find him
a horse and started to Illinois with it.
Joe Young, then 20 years old, started
in pursuit and followed him to Jeffer-
son City, Mo. There he sent tele-
gram to Peoria, Ill. which enabled the
sheriff to bring the thief back and
send him to Jail for two years. But
he didn't get the horse back.
(There is a break in my paper at
this point for lack of information.)
Never Was Changed.
Now we are on a stretch of the
original road opposite the Fairview
school house. This part of the road
has never been changed although
on it. But to the south of this stretch
the old road is obliterated for several
miles. Especially in the locality Of
the Simerwell burying- ground. This
burying ground is on the west side of
the old location of the road. 1t was
started by Rev. Robert Simerwen as
a place to bury his wife in 1850.
in 1896 and was the first missionary
to the Pottawatomies. His missionary
work among the Indians started near
what is now Niles. Mich.
He married his wife there. She also
was a missionary among the Indians
and was from Kentucky. Mr.. Sinner
well printed a small book in the In
dian language and tried to teach the
Indians to read and write, but pro-
duced no practical good. He came to
Uniontown in what is now Shawnee
county in 1S4S, then moved to
Brownville, which is now Auburn, in
1850, when his wife died.
Due to the privations of his early
life he fell in with a blacksmith and
learned the trade, and he prepared
himself for the ministry while work.
ing at this trade. He had a black
smith shop on the farm near the
burying ground and worked at his
trade for his neighbors. His temper
is said to have been very uncertain,
and numerous small boys who loved to
watch him work were driven away
with very small courtesy.
The Simerwell Cabin.
The house on the Simerweu farm