Etched in Time: Overland Memories of Johnson County
The vast prairie itself soon opened before us in all its grandeur and beauty. I had never before beheld extensive scenery of this kind…The view of the illimitable succession of green undulations and flowery slopes, of every gentle and graceful configuration, stretching away and away until they fade from the sight in the dim distance, creates a wild and scarcely controllable ecstasy of admiration.
Edwin Bryant, 1846.
Few Johnson County residents and visitors would describe the present day landscape as Edwin Bryant did in 1846. As more and more urbanization overtakes what remains of the rural landscape, threads of Johnson County trails history nevertheless endure. Not many realize that two trails, the California—Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail, shared a route through most of Johnson County, splitting near present day Gardner. Starting as early as 1821, travelers sought fortune by following the Santa Fe Trail to trade with Mexico. Traders later traveled alongside those emigrants seeking better health and fortune out west. It is estimated between 300,000 to 500,000 emigrants set out on the trails for a better life in California and Oregon between the years 1841 and 1848. Their first experiences on the overland journey to the south for trade, or west for a better life, survive not only on the pages of their diaries, but also in the physical places they experienced in Johnson County.
Starting Out
Most emigrants started their travels in early April or May, when the grass was tall enough to serve as food for draft animals. The spring departure also meant that travelers could reach the Sierra Nevada mountain range before the first snow in late October or early November. The two thousand mile trek across the country took approximately five or six months. After outfitting their wagons at a “jumping off point” in Independence or Westport, Missouri, many spent their first few days on the trail organizing their caravan, electing officers, training their new oxen, and simply finding their way. The first days on the trail were fraught with challenges for those beginning an overland journey. After leaving what is believed to be the Friend’s Quaker Mission in Johnson County in 1840, William Fairholme wrote:
I then emerged into the open prairie and…I began to suspect I had lost my way. To add to my discomfiture, I had forgotten to put my compass in my pocket, and there were so many different paths leading in all directions towards the different Indian villages along the frontier, and intersecting each other continually, that it was almost in vain trying to keep to any one, and I became completely puzzled.
To accomplish an acceptable to good distance of 15 to 20 miles per day, emigrants awakened before the break of dawn for breakfast and yoked their team to travel within the next two hours. This activity commonly called “catching up” was a scene of great confusion in the first days. Most emigrants were not accustomed to hitching and driving teams of newly trained oxen. Untrained livestock would sometimes wander away from the encampment at night and would often balk to avoid the yoke. While men were out catching livestock, the women were cooking breakfast and packing the wagons to leave. Both livestock and people had to make radical adjustments and often the best-laid intentions went awry. Traveling in Johnson County in 1849 just before sighting the Lone Elm, William G. Johnston noted:
My horse, not satisfied to stand on the brink, walked into the water, and forthwith began to sink in mire. In my endeavor to extricate the animal I found it necessary to dismount, and in doing this, by some mischance, leapt into the midst of the pond. Scrambling out, I had considerable difficulty in getting the horse to follow; and when he did so, discovered that he had lamed himself in his left thigh so that I could use him but little afterwards. This occurrence eventually led to the use of my own legs in crossing the continent, instead of those I had calculated upon, and I thus became an expert pedestrian ever after.
Rendezvous
Overland travelers would often rendezvous a day or two out from their starting point in order to organize their caravans and get their bearings. Guidebooks to the trails published by the mid-1840s often listed destination points for rendezvous and afternoon breaks called “nooning,” as well as sites for overnight camping that featured water, grass and wood. Many of Johnson County’s campsites were considered common rendezvous points along the overland trails. Sapling Grove, known today as Comanche Park, 8210 Grant in Overland Park, and Indian Creek/Flat Rock Creek, 13120 W. 103rd in Lenexa, were two of the common campsites to rendezvous for those following the trail from Westport. George Champlin Sibley, and Indian agent commissioned to survey and mark the Santa Fe Trail, originally surveyed both sites from 1825-1827 as campsites on the Santa Fe Trail.
Since the late 1820s Sapling Grove had a long history of use on the Santa Fe Trail and is located at the headwaters of Turkey Creek. The campsite was famous as the rendezvous point for the Bidwell-Bartleson group. The Bidwell-Bartleson party is recognized as the first caravan of families to head out west in 1841. Resolutions of the Western Emigrations Society published in 1841 states:
…It is recommended that all companies and individuals intending to so emigrate, rendezvous at the Sappling grove (sic) on the old Santa Fe route, about nine miles west of the Missouri State line…
Flat Rock Creek campsite was also known as Indian Creek, renamed for the creek that provided the water source for the site. The ford at Indian Creek was noted for the soft bed edges and solid limestone bottom, which supported wagons and was one of the few fords that emigrants could traverse with relative ease. Flat Rock Creek was a large campsite for emigrants that offered shorter mileage for the first day out and was a good place to congregate for the purpose of organizing and electing officers before heading out on the trails. Camped at the Indian Creek rendezvous in 1846, Edwin Bryant noted:
…there is much electioneering here for the captaincy of this expedition, as there would be for the generalship of an army, or for the presidency of the United States. The many interests of the ambitious aspirants to the office, and the vehemence with which their claims are urged by their respective friends, augur unfavorably to harmony on the journey.
Resting
“Nooning” was a midday rest period of about an hour. Yokes of oxen were unhitched from wagons for resting and emigrants were given a chance for refreshment before resuming their travels. Usually they were able to continue for another seven or so miles before ending the day of travel. At night, agons were drawn into a circle called a corral. In Johnson County these corrals were mostly used to prevent their stock from straying rather than defense against a potential Indian attack. During the first few days on the trail, good cheer prevailed and much time was spent in the evenings socializing and establishing new friendships that would last the remainder of the trip. Traveler Edwin Bryant described his party’s camp at Indian Creek in Johnson County:
Our camp this evening presents a most cheerful appearance… The white tents and wagon-covers before which the camp-fires are blazing brightly, represent a rustic village; and men, women, and children are talking, playing, and singing around them with all the glee of light and careless hearts.
In addition to Sapling Grove in present day Overland Park and the Flat Rock Creek site in Lenexa, three other campsites-Elm Grove (also known as Caravan Grove), Lone Elm (also known as Round Grove), and Bull Creek (near the point where the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon —California Trail diverge) were often mentioned as campsites in trail guides and in the diaries of the emigrants. As travelers moved southwest from the rolling hills of northeast Johnson County, the landscape changes into what was described as a flatter, treeless prairie. Jackson Thomason in 1849 noted the changes in the landscape after passing the legendary Lone Elm in Johnson County:
The country passed over to day (sic) is apparently very productive & the soil good. Plenty of good grass for stock & water in abundance, at respectful distances, from each watering place. The face of the country is now level & now very good & made 13 miles today Camp(ed) on “Bull Creek”…
The Elm Grove campsite, also known as Caravan Grove, is located southwest of Olathe in a valley near the Highway 56 bridge over Cedar Creek. This campsite was used primarily by travelers following the Wesport trail branch of the Santa Fe/Oregon/California trails and was often confused with its famous neighboring campground to the south, Lone Elm. Lone Elm campground was known for its distinctive landmark, a solitary elm tree. Research by Johnson County resident Craig Crease documents the existence of these two distinct campsites by comparing mileage and diary entries. In reading Susan Magoffin’s 1846 diary entry about Elm Grove, it is easy to see how the two places could be confused:
There is no other tree or bush or shrub save one Elm tree, which stands on a small elevation near the little creek or branch. The travelers (sic) always (sic) stop where there is water sufficient for all their animals. The grass is fine every place, it is so tall in some places as to conceal a man’s waist.
The Lone Elm campsite is located at the spring head for Cedar Creek near 167th and Lone Elm road south of Olathe, about two and half miles southeast of Elm Grove. It was commonly thought to have been the first or second night’s camping grounds for parties using the route from Independence as well as a common place to rendezvous. The Lone Elm of the campsite proved to be a historic landmark often mentioned by emigrants on the trail. Jackson Thomason noted in 1849:
This is a venerable Old Elm, situated in the open Prairie by itself, & much worse of ware by being thus situated as near this tree is a noted camping ground & fuel being scarce the tree was nearly striped (sic) of every limb & in a short time will be whittled to the ground.
The final known campsite in Johnson County was Bull Creek, located near the junction of the Santa Fe and Oregon—California Trails, and noted for its good timber and grass. James Pritchard wrote in 1849:
It still continued to rain and the roads became somewhat heavy. Still passing over high rolling Prairie we continued till 3 P.M. which brought us to a large creek, called Bool [Bull] Creek. Just before we reached the creek, we found one unfortunate fellow with the tongue broke square off th[e] hou[n]ds of his wagon. We crossed the creek and encamped for the night.
Junction of the Trails
Although the trails in Johnson County were well traversed towards the later years of emigration, the spot where the Santa Fe and Oregon—California Trails split was a place where many could easily make a wrong turn. William Johnston notes in 1849:
…I missed the way after having started and did not discover my mistake until I had gone fully two miles in a wrong direction… Reaching the main trail, no signs were noticeable of wagons having passed over it, but I persevered, feeling every assurance that I was going the proper direction…At length, a trail, newly made diverging from the main road, was seen… On coming up to our party I found a discussion in progress as to whether in leaving the Santa Fe road, as had been done for the purpose of entering the Oregon trail, they had made a proper divergence. Satisfied at length that they were going right, we continued to move onward.
Some emigrants were the beneficiaries of a sign at this point, placed to assist emigrants in finding the right trail. Dr. Frederick A. Wislizenus noted on May 24, 1846:
This morning we passed the road to Oregon, that leaves, about eight miles from Round Grove, the Santa Fe Road, and turns to the right towards the Kansas [river]. A way post had been put there, marked: ‘Road to Oregon’…
Onward…
The stories of the emigrants continued on as they eventually left Johnson County, the Santa Fe Trail exiting to the south and the Oregon—California Trail to the west. The terrain of Johnson County was considered by most a training ground as they traversed the trails and developed their daily routine, a routine considered exciting and new here, but to be repeated many more times before reaching their destination. Many emigrants were considered lucky to have experienced their first “shake-down” within Johnson County, where experienced travelers were always passing by for possible assistance and in case of a total catastrophe, civilization was within a few days travel. As Peter Burnett noted in his recollections at Elm Grove in 1843,
Our long journey thus began in sunshine and sun, in anecdote and laughter; but these all vanished before we reached its termination.
The words of many emigrants were at first filled with excitement and much enthusiasm, a tone that changed dramatically as they continued on the difficult journey across the continent. Despite the hardships to come, remnants of these first experiences on the overland trails in Johnson County are remembered not only within their journals, but also in the places they visited so long ago. Although the dust from their long forgotten steps have settled, their experiences will remain forever etched into the landscapes of Johnson County.
--ALBUM vol. 16. no. 2 (spring 2003)