U.S. 40

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You are following an ancient travel route

*Go West Young Man & Grow with the Country."

For most of its first century, the United States population clustered along the Atlantic Coast. However, its 1848 victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American War & the 1849 discovery of gold in California, & later in the Rockies, brought settlers through the Great Plains & to the West Coast. The story of Western Vistas, therefore, is one of westward movement with its many routes along the way eventually helping settle many places still in resistance today.

Smoky Hill River Valley Transportation Corridor

The Smoky Hill River, part of the Mississippi River watershed, transects Kansas from its eastern terminus at the Missouri River, west to its headwaters on the plains of Colorado. For untold centuries, Native American cultures used the valley of the Smoky Hill River as a trade route. Its course was followed by Spanish, French, & Americans on exploration expeditions.

The first major use of the route began with the discovery of gold on the front range of the Rocky Mountains in 1858. Hundreds of gold-seekers, in search of their fortunes, braved the challenges presented by travel over inaccurately mapped territory. Travelers often arrived with stories of hunger & death, & travel virtually ceased on "Starvation Trail" by 1859. However, the government recognized the potential of the Smoky Hill route & established four military posts on the banks of the Smoky Hill River, from Camp Center (Fort Riley) in 1853 to Camp Pond Creek (Fort Wallace) in 1865, the last & westernmost of these posts.

The route rose into prominence in 1865 when Butterfield's Overland Despatch began implementing freight & staging operations along the route. The Kansas Pacific Railway followed opening travel to Denver in 1870. Cheyenne, Araphao, Kiowa, & Sioux people fiercely resisted travel along the route from 1865 until the final conflicts associated with the Cheyenne Exodus through Kansas in 1878. As automobiles became more common, the Victory Highway was established from Kansas City, Missouri to San Francisco, California, followed by US Route 40, one of the original 1926 US Highways. Today, Interstate 70 through Kansas follows a similar route. Within a 150-mile radius of this location, there occurred more significant historical events during the 19th century phase of High Plains history than any other place in the world.

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Connecting Kansas City & Denver through the unforgiving Plains

After spending several years in Kansas & Denver, businessman David Butterfield saw an opportunity to create a freight & passenger line directly across the plains carrying goods & people as quickly as possible from Atchison, Kansas on the Missouri River to the gold fields of Denver, Colorado. After studying survey maps, developing business relationships & raising $3 million, he formed Butterfield's Overland Despatch Company (BOD). By order of General Grenville S. Dodge, a survey party left to explore the Smoky Hill Route in 1865, finally discovering a viable route along the south fork of the Smoky Hill, about 11 miles from this spot. Isaac S. Eaton of this expedition chose the locations of its eventual 39 stations at approximately 12-mile intervals.

By end of June 1865, the BOD launched its freighting operations along the Smoky Hill Trail; the first stagecoach left in September reaching Denver 12 days later. From the outset, the Plains Tribes resisted the influx of travelers through their best hunting grounds, & the BOD lost profitability almost immediately. In March 1866, Butterfield sold it to Ben Holliday "The Stagecoach King." By November 1865, Holladay sold the line to Wells Fargo, merging most existing stagecoach lines into one company. While the BOD only ran for limited time, it proved the viability of the route to the railroad. Staging & freighting operations on the Smoky Trail ended when the Kansas Pacific Railway reached Denver in August 1870.

Traveling the BOD
Traveling on a BOD coach cost from $100 to $175 for a one-way trip. There were several types of stations along the route. "Home" stations sold meals to passengers for $0.50 to $1.00. "Cattle" stations provided hay for animals, while "Swing" stations allowed coaches to replace mules & horses. From Atchison to Fort Ellsworth, the trip was relatively comfortable, but it became less so to the west due to rougher terrain & NAtive American attacks. While forts made travelers feel safe, they were ineffectual against the Plains Tribes' hit-and-run tactics.

Roadside History-"BOD Markers"
In the 1920s, the Kansas State Historical Society asked Howard Raynesford of Ellis, Kansas to map the Smoky Hill Trail through Western Kansas. Raynesford did so, walking most of the route's 220 miles. Since then the disappearing route was marked with limestone posts at intersections with highways & routes. The posts are etched with "BOD 1865" & a groove showing the direction of the trail at that spot. Each post also has a plaque, reading: "Smoky Hill Trail-Butterfield Overland Despatch-Atchison to Denver-Traversed by General Fremont 1844-First Denver Stagecoach 1859-Most dangerous overland route-Retraced & mapped by Howard C. Raynesford-Ellis, Kansas-Marked placed 1963."

*Pond Creek Stagecoach Station
Pond Creek Stagecoach Station in Wallace County is one of th e onlyButterfield Overland Despatch stations remaining. The building, constructed of ponderosa pine in 1865, is one of the oldest between Atchison & Denver. A "home stations, Pond Creek had a trap door with three underground tunnels leading to stone-covered bunkers which were used for defense. When the BOD ended, the building was used first as a store, then an outbuilding. It was donated to Fort Wallace Museum in 1960 & is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Western Vistas Historic Byway

New Forms of Transportation Bring Growth
Transportation routes often dictated which parts of Kansas were settled & how they developed. Where new routes were created, cities grew to supply them. From trails to the railroads, to highways, each city depended on transportation corridors to allow the movement of people & goods, connecting them to the wider nation. Similarly, as routes moved or railroads left, towns changed or withered. Those that still exist celebrate this history, which has created an opportunity to a new, different kind of traveler: tourist.
Many cities along the Byways fit this exact bill, initially created as stations for trails but growing into cities over time. Sharon Springs, originally Eagle Tail Stations, was founded in 1868, but wasn't named Sharon Springs until 1886. Winoma originally called Gopher, was founded in 1884 as the terminus of the Scott City Northern Railroad. Russell Springs, Monument, & many other communities followed these familiar stories in unique variations.
Russell Springs
The City of Russell Springs was founded by the Pioneer Town Site Company in 1887 at the former Butterfield Overland Despatch's Eaton Stagecoach. The name was derived from the cattleman, William D. Russell, & his clear-water springs which supplied his stock with water. It narrowly became the Logan County Seat shortly after it was founded, though this was not to last.
At first, the town thrived due to being on both the Smoky Hill Trail & Colorado, Kansas & Oklahoma (formerly the Scott City Northern). However, the railroad was abandoned by the end of 1918, & the town's population never surpassed 200. County residents attempted to move the county seat to Oakley in 1937, 1945, & 1960. These efforts were eventually successful, though the transition was not smooth. The courthouse, which still stands, shows damage where the vault doors were forcefully removed during the transfer of county records in 1963, though it still retains old county records. Today, the building is an emblem of the last Kansas" "Courthouse Wars."

*Former Logan County Courthouse
The former Logan County Courthouse was constructed in 1887 of native stone & locally kilned brick. The two story renaissance-style structure has housed the Butterfield Trail Historical Museum since 1965, providing exhibits on general history, fossils, trail, & settlement. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
*The damage wall were the county safe was forcefully removed on August 13, 1963 during the "Courthouse Wars" & the relocation of the county seat.

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