Santa Fe Trail | dual personalities

Grace abounding

by chuckofish

Well, we are experiencing some beautiful fall weather and I am grateful. The weekend was beautiful.

On Saturday I gave a talk on the history of the Santa Fe Trail to a group of DAR ladies. Daughter #1 accompanied me and provided tech support, because as I’ve learned in my years in academia, one always needs tech support (plus multiple back-ups, several PowerPoint versions of your talk, dongles, thumb drives etc. etc. etc.)

Everything went smoothly and I guess the ladies enjoyed it. I was pinch-hitting for someone in Kansas City in the Missouri River Outfitters chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association of which I am a member–obviously I’m the only chapter member who lives in St. Louis!

This experience did motivate me to look into the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. My maternal grandmother was a pillar of the DAR and now that I am retired, it might be something I could get interested in. It was the DAR, after all, who originally took on the important task of preserving the Santa Fe Trail and placing markers along the way, thus saving the trail from literally blowing away in the wind. The DAR in Kansas began the monumental task of marking the Trail in Kansas in 1902. Soon chapters of the DAR in Missouri, Colorado, and New Mexico followed suit and marked the Trail in their respective states. Pink granite markers were placed where one could see the original ruts or swales, or where traders still living indicated the location of the route. Four Madonna of the Trail statues honor the women who traveled the trail. Just another example of private citizens (and women at that) organizing a project, raising money and seeing it through to completion.

We are hoping to make the trek soon to Franklin, Missouri, the original site of the beginning of the trail…

…that is, before Franklin was washed away by a flood in 1827. Then the trailhead moved west to Westport Landing.

We got up early on Sunday and made a Tater Tot breakfast casserole before going to church to meet the boy and the wee babes for the 6th week in a row! They are really enjoying Sunday School. Lottie corrected my pronunciation of Naaman. (You remember him. He was the commander of the Syrian army who was healed of his leprosy by Elijah.) After brunch, daughter #1 headed back to JC and the twins went home to wreck havoc there.

We did get to FaceTime with our precious Katiebelle who is also (obviously) brilliant:

It was a nice quiet weekend.

Now as the week progresses, remember what the @madcapcottage boys say: “Be optimistic. Be happy. Don’t live with fear. Act like a kid. Create new chapters. Ditch the pessimists in your life. And always wear bunny ears whenever the opportunity arises.” Hear, hear!

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September 28, 2021

Postcards from Colorado

by chuckofish

We made it to southeast Colorado and home again, exhausted now but having had a merry old time. We participated in the Santa Fe Trail Bicentennial Symposium, saw everything we set out to see, ate a lot of tasty Mexican food and enjoyed ourselves along the way. Daughter #1 demonstrated the navigational and driving prowess she has acquired while living in mid-MO. Today I’m just going to post some pics while I process it all.

Descendants of JS Hough, SFTA Hall of Fame 2020 inductee

Bent’s New Fort site on the Arkansas River

The Picketwire running a little dry in Vogel Canyon

I must say I love this country–the wide open spaces and the big sky! The stars at night were insane! The weather was beautiful. We did not see any tarantulas–try as we might. Dusk was the prime time to do so and we were always on our way to one of the nightly events of the symposium.

We stopped in Denver on our way out of town and were shocked at how big it has gotten and how much traffic there was between Colorado Springs and Denver (there was a Broncos game which might account for some of that). We went to the Colorado History Museum, which has, of course, gotten quite woke since I was last there in 2013. Thankfully they still have Kit Carson’s hunting coat on display, which you will recall was donated to the state by JS Hough.

They also have John Wesley Prower’s branding iron on view in the Centennial State in 100 Objects display.

By the way, here I am with the great-great-great-grandson of Kit Carson who I ran into in Boggsville.

Small world.

We covered quite a bit of territory in Otero, Bent and Prowers counties and you’ll hear more about that in upcoming posts. When we returned our rented SUV at the airport it was insect encrusted and dirt covered–signs of a well spent four days.

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September 21, 2021

The river of lost souls

by chuckofish

As you may recall, we are traveling on Thursday to attend the 2021 Santa Fe Trail Symposium in La Junta, Colorado, where we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. So many 200th birthdays this year, right?

Anyway, I have been reviewing our family’s part in this region’s history and planning what little excursions we will make in the area. We will return to Boggsville and Old Bent’s Fort and check out Las Animas and Lamar for the first time.

We will also be on the lookout for large hairy spiders because, yes, it is tarantula migration time and the Comanche National Grassland in La Junta is the number one destination to spot tarantulas in Colorado.

I am excited to head west! I love my pioneer ancestors and will enjoy soaking up the ambiance. And we’ll toast old John Simpson Hough who will be inducted into the Santa Fe Trail Hall of Fame on Thursday night. Let the good times roll.

By the way, we were all saddened to hear of the passing of 1950s movie star Jane Powell. She was 92. Let’s all watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) in her memory.