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PAWNEE ROCK |
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PAWNEE ROCK |
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A mile northeast is Pawnee Rock, a famous landmark on the Santa Fe
Trail. Considered the mid-point of the long road between Missouri and New Mexico, Pawnee Rock was a symbol of challenges overcome. Many early travelers mentioned it in their journals, and many of them scratched their names in its soft surface. Here young Kit Carson, standing guard one dark night in 1826 is said to have shot his own mule, mistaking it for a Pawnee. Perhaps it was his unkind companions who named Pawnee Rock to commemorate the young man's blunder. Freighters, soldiers, goldseekers, and emigrants admired the rock as they paraded by on the trail. In later years local settlers and railroad builders quarried the rock down to about half its original height. An overlook, monument, and historical signs now grace its reduced summit. |
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One-half mile northeast is Pawnee Rock, a famous
landmark on the Santa Fe trail. As a lookout and ambush, rising from the prairies where millions of buffalo provided an easy living for hostile Indians, the rock was one of the most dangerous points on the central plains. Pike, Webb, Gregg, Doniphan and other travelers mentioned it in their journals. Here 17-year-old Kit Carson, standing guard one night in 1826 shot his own mule, mistaking it for an Indian. Trappers, soldiers, goldseekers, freighters and emigrants carved their names in the stone. In later years railroad builders and pioneers stripped the top of the rock and greatly reduced its elevation. It is now a state park. A road leads to a shelter house and monument on the summit. |
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Pawnee Rock
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