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T 104 c h a p t e r 5 The F-A-R W-E-S-T Missouri Trail Towns r he Santa Fe Trail was never a single trace, track, or path. Men and wagons, like water, find their own levels and directions. Like the Missouri River, the trail had cutoffs, braids, and alternate routes. Arrow Rock could be reached by traveling west across the prairie from Franklin or by crossing the river at Boonville and then heading west. Traders might go to Lexington and then on to Independence or head to Fort Osage. As towns and villages waxed and waned, caravans passed through places new and old. Within only a few years after the start of the trail, Franklin had disappeared; the settlement at Arrow Rock had grown, named itself New Philadelphia, then decided to change back to Arrow Rock. Fort Osage was abandoned to the wolves, and Independence was living up to its name as it passed its early years in the woods instead of on the prairie. But no matter how it changed in shape, the trail always moved west across the state, like a sunflower following its namesake. The Boonslick Trail from St. Charles to Franklin was approximately 130 miles. The rest of the trail, from Franklin to the Missouri River on the western line, was roughly 160 miles: Franklin to Arrow Rock, 24 miles; Arrow Rock to Lexington, 73; Lexington to Fort Osage, 23; Fort Osage to Independence, 17; Independence to Westport, 13 and Westport to New Santa Fe, 11. A good journey by horse across the state might take eleven days or less, but with wagons it took at least three weeks. If there was rain, or ground soaked by storms or streams over their banks, several weeks’ travel was common. The F-A-R W-E-S-T / 105 Missouri traders set out without maps, guided by what others told them about the best route, the best springs for the stock, the best places to stop and camp. Travel along the Missouri Trail was by gosh, by guess, and by golly in the early days. In later years, after thousands of wagon wheels had bitten into the plains along the trail, travelers followed the paths of those who had gone before. The main stops along the route changed in importance through the years: the trailhead—the town considered by traders to be the start of the trail—moved steadily west, from Franklin, Boonville, Arrow Rock, Fort Osage, Independence, to Westport. Over the years it moved west, reached Westport, and then was no more than a few miles long within the state of Missouri. This shortening occurred for several reasons. First, the Missouri was a wild river, unconstricted by modern levees and dikes. In the time of the trail, the river could flood the bottomlands, eat up towns, and change the face of the landscape in the blink of a watery eye. At least one town– Franklin—had disappeared into the river, forcing the trail to move west where the river wasn’t as ornery and the settlements could be placed on higher ground. Second, steamboats improved their ability to navigate the Missouri River. The earliest steamboats to reach Franklin arrived in 1819—the commercial ship Independence and the Jefferson, which was part of a government expedition. (The Jefferson was also the first ship to sink in the Missouri River.) The early steamboat pilots quickly discovered that Missouri River mud and sand clogged engines, causing the ships to spin in circles or run aground. Alphonso Wetmore saw the early Missouri steamboats and was not impressed: “This small craft was observed just getting underway. Marvelous as it may seem, some malconstruction of the machinery that was designed to propel the boat worked inversely, and carried her stern-foremost up stream.” But within ten years, improvements allowed steamboats to travel upriver to the area that is now Kansas City, and Santa Fe traders could move goods by water to starting points farther west before beginning down the trail. Within little more than a decade after the War of 1812, the Boonslick had changed from an Indian homeland to a white settlement area. Indian tribes—the Ioway and the Kansas among them—were forced from their ancestral homes, many victims of unfair treaties and broken promises. Tribes were shoved west across the Missouri and held in check through The Santa Fe Trail in Missouri / 106 military strength, meaningless peace agreements, destruction of camping areas and...

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