Trail members visit Santa Fe Trail blow-out
About 40 members of the Cottonwood Crossing chapter of the National Santa Fe Trail Association took a wagon ride Thursday across native prairie southwest of Durham.
They traveled along the original Santa Fe Trail and viewed an area where the trail was blown out by the effects of wind and rain.
The 10- to 12-foot deep blow-out was located in sandy soil on an incline and was at least an eighth of a mile long. It is located on Scully-owned land.
Doug Sharp, manager of Scully Estates, accompanied the group and shared facts and folklore about the Santa Fe Trail.
The trail was a commercial route between Missouri and Santa Fe and was used from 1821 to 1872. Sharp said the first traders followed Indian trails to establish the best route.
The trail passed through Marion County just north of present-day Lost Springs, through Tampa, and over the Cottonwood River northwest of Durham.
While working in land management at Dodge City, prior to coming to Marion, Sharp took people on tours of the Santa Fe Trail in that area. He said he has been interested in the trail for a long time.
After the wagon ride, the group traveled to Durham and had a meal of smoked pork chops, salad, baked potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, and pie.
The evening concluded with a presentation by Sharp about Irishman William Scully's accumulation of land in the United States, beginning in the 1870s.
Sharp said Scully Estates owns 38,000 acres of cropland and 15,000 acres of native grassland in Kansas. Much of the land is in Marion, Dickinson, and Morris counties.
