Santa Fe Trail surveyed 200 years ago this week
Special to the Record
In 1825, the federal government authorized the marking out and surveying of a road from the western frontier of Missouri to the Mexican settlements in the present state of New Mexico.
The purpose was to aid and promote Santa Fe trade.
The survey began July 17, 1825, near Fort Osage (Sibley), Missouri. The survey party passed westward through Marion County 200 years ago this week, Aug. 11 to 14, 1825.
Leaving Diamond Spring, the party entered the county Aug. 11 and camped in the vicinity of the Lost Spring, west of the present-day town of Lost Springs.
Aug. 12, the party traveled to Mud Creek, very close to Tampa.
Aug. 13, it continued onward to its next camp — Cottonwood Grove on the Cottonwood River west of Durham.
Aug. 14, it left the county on its way to Running Turkey Creek, south of Galva.
The leader of the survey expedition was George Sibley. The surveyor was Joseph Brown. The party consisted of more than 40 people, 57 horses and mules, and three wagons.
The survey more or less followed the Santa Fe Trail, which had come into use after Mexican independence in 1821.
The Santa Fe Trail was a trail of commerce connecting the Missouri River near Kansas City to Santa Fe.
Goods and merchandise flowed both west and east over the trail, to and from world markets via the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers.
The global economy is nothing new; it was alive and well in 1825.
The survey, known today as the Sibley Expedition, took 2½ years to complete.
The expedition surveyed westward in 1825, going to Taos instead of Santa Fe; eastward in 1826, making corrections to their route; and again from Missouri to Diamond Spring and back in 1827, making further corrections to the route.
A final report was submitted Oct. 27, 1827. It was promptly filed away and mostly forgotten; results were not publicly disseminated at the time.
By October, 1827, the Santa Fe Trail had been in use for seven trading seasons. The trail was a plain track. Traders knew the way, and surveying and marking out were not needed.
The Sibley Expedition will be the theme of Santa Fe Trail Association’s 2025 symposium Sept. 24 to 27 in Council Grove.
Today, travelers can follow the Santa Fe Trail using the Marion County local auto tour route.
An annotated map of the tour route is available at https://santafetrail.org/kansas-chapters/cottonwood-crossing-chapter/cottonwood-crossing-chapter-points-of-interest/
Steve Schmidt, a Marion County land owner from Hesston, is president of the Cottonwood Crossing Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association.