Fort Larned & Santa Fe Trail Museum
Trip Start
May 27, 2009
1
101
290
Trip End
Oct 04, 2011
Salina, Kansas
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Fort Larned was established on the vast prairie in Western Kansas midway along the Santa Fe trail in 1859 to protect mail coaches, freighters and other Trail traffic from Plains Indians. With nine beautifully restored buildings, Fort Larned is the best preserved Indian Wars military post on the Santa Fe Trail. As the site of an Indian Agency, Fort Larned also was instrumental in maintaining friendly relations with Plains Indians. In July 1978, six years after the railroad was completed through Kansas, the fort was abandoned.
Santa Fe Trail Museum:
The Santa Fe Trail originated in Independence, MO through Kansas and ended in New Mexico. The Trail began in 1821 and carried a stream of merchant wagons and pioneers until replaced by the railroad system in 1880. The Santa Fe Trail Museum tells the story of the transportation route once known as the Santa Fe Trail which blended the Indian, Mexican, and American cultures.
