The Coolidge examiner., 1933-12-08


Washington. D. C.-wNU Service.
a MARKER Is to be placed at
~ Ingalls,, Kan, by the Santa
Fe Trail association as a
memorial to Jebediah Smith. one of
the early pioneers Of Americas
West.
The Santa Fe Trail, hard, hoof-
worn highway. often 100 feet wide,
so beaten and packed that II
couldn't be plowed, and with not a
white settlement on its whole saw
age-haunted length. stretched across
virgin land. On buffalo meat alone
the plainsman often lived, and from
green hide he made clumsy, sack
like boots to save oxen's feet from
stones and hot sand. A good days
march was Is miles
Over this amazing pathway of the
plains drove the longest wagon
trains the world ever saw, trains
often miles long, with four and even
eight creaking wagons rumbllng
abreast. What a colossal traffic II
was, pushing out TO win the West
At its peak. 1900 wagons and 50,-
600 OK yokes used in one seasoni
Franklin. Mo-, in Kit Carson's
youth, was the outpost OF CIV
ilization. st. Louis, with 1000 peo-
pie. was the only other large town
in Missouri. From there clumsy
boats. battling sand bars. snags, and
muddy whirlpools. their passengers
often firing at deer or wild turkey
on the wooded river banks, beat up
stream to Franklin. where the Santa
Fe trail then started.
Franklin doomed with the fur
trade. 1t fairly seethed with ex-
cited men. Oxen bawled; mules
kicked and grunted. Through mud
and dust of the crude towns crowd
ed streets creaked heavily loaded
wagons Of Conestoga type, canvas
topped, schoonerlike wagons. loaded
with bolts OF calico. ginghams, vel
vets. cotton goods. cutlery. firearms.
tools. and light hardware, and
drawn by four or FIVE pairs of oxen
or mules; and, breastlng this west
bound stream, up from Santa Fe,
from Fl Paso. even from far Chi.
huahua. pack trains came drifting
in. laden with Mexican silver, with
beaver pelts and buffalo robes. Big
HATED, swarthy Spanish" men in
red blankets and tight trousers-men
who fought with knives and spoke
a purring tongue strange to Mis-
souri, folk-mingled with returning
caravans.
Little Left of Franklin.
Far outpost of empire Franklin
was in those exciting days. 1t saw
the cheering legions pass. But now
its symphony of life is lulled.
Long ago the hungry river claimed
most of 1t. Few. indeed, of the
Fastening host who pause now for
hot dogs or cigarettes even dream
what stirring scenes were staged
here when the Mexican flag still
waved from western Kansas to Cal
ifornia.
Yet its name, Ike Daniel Boone's
and Kit Carson's. endures in the
annals of the West.
AS for the trail itself. sweeping
on from the Big Muddy TO ancient
Santa Fe. now it Is buster and bet
ter than ever. Railroads and mo-
tor highways, paralleling its course,
handle today's vast commerce. Now
millions ride In speed and safety
where pioneers beat their stubborn
way against thirst and hunger. dar-
ing torture and death in the forays
and ambuscades of Pawnees. Kio-
was, Cheyennes. Comanches, Osages
and Arapahoes.
Where millions of buffalo rocked
the plains with the thunder of stam-
peding hoofs and died from arrows.
spears and rifle balls. now millions
OF meat-bearing animals lift bovine
faces to stare at passing trains and
motors cars-slow-moving. safe in
fenced fields. chased by no wolves,
Indians. or hungry white men on
horseback.
Windmills. wells. and city water
systems-lots of water now where
men wild with thirst once vainly
dug with bleeding fingers In dry
stream beds, or walked out on
parched plains to lie down quietly
and die.