Santa Fe Trail - Marker Cottonwood Crossing
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This multi-cache has three stages. The first two are virtuals that can be seen from your vehicle. Coordinates for the first stage is listed above. Second stage coordinates are N38 18.494, W97 56.593. Information gathered from the first two sites will be used to find the coordinates of the actual cache. Since the sign at the first stage is down, your final coordinates are N38 18.604, W97 56.398. These coordinates are provided only until the sign is replaced. Happy Caching.
There is a lot of history associated with this area. This is where the Santa Fe Trail first entered Rice County. There were two branches of the trail that entered here. One branch crossed the Little Arkansas River just a little south of this first stop (the coordinates listed above). The other (where the cache is located) was about a half mile north of this point. In the early days of the Trail, visual markers were important navigational aids. The north crossing was marked by a large cottonwood tree (known as the Marker Cottonwood), which could be seen for many miles. At this time, there were no trees on the prairie, and few located along streams. While most trees along the river were cut for fuel, this cottonwood was spared because of its importance as a trail marker. It is estimated that the Marker Cottonwood is well over 200 years old now. Your first stop is at the site of Camp Grierson. Indian troubles along the trail in 1864 prompted the government to establish a camp there in April of 1865. In 1867, the camp was occupied from June to November by Company C of black troops of the 10th Cavalry, commanded by a Captain Edward Byrne. The sign erected at this location reports that General George Custer was assigned here with the black troops, however, there are no military records to that effect.. Captain Byrne's command is corroborated by the memoires of trader Franz Huning, survivor of the Plum Buttes Massacre, which occured, on the farm where the Ralph's Ruts Cache is located, on September 9, 1867. Huning had requested an escort of the black troops through Rice County, and was turned down by Byrne. Locate the number of black soldiers on the sign and subtract it from 472 to obtain the last three digits of the longitude for the Marker Cottonwood Crossing Cache. The longitude is W97 56.XXX. On the west side of the Little Arkansas River and a little north of Camp Grierson was the location of the Stone Corral. In February of 1859, the Kansas Territorial Legislature passed an act to authorize William T. Williamson and others to build a bridge at the Little Arkansas crossing. The legislature set the toll rates at: wagon or vehicle, 50 cents; each large animal, 10 cents, each small animal and person, 5 cents; man and horse, 10 cents. The Stone Corral was built at this time as a trading post, and an overnight stop for the wagon trains. It was constructed of stone quarried a mile west of the location, and was put up without mortar. The corral was 300 feet by 400 feet, with walls eight feet tall and 31 inches thick. In the early 1870's, Nathan A. C. Bean, the owner at the time, began selling stone from the wall to settlers in the area. The corral wasn't needed any longer since the Trail ceased to be used in 1872. Stone from the corral was used to build the Stone Corral School located one mile south and 3/4 miles west of the Stone Corral. A large amount of the stone was hauled to Nickerson to build a railroad roundhouse. The D.A.R. erected a marker to indicate the location of the Stone Corral at N38 18.494, W97 56.593. Locate the stone marker and note the year the marker was set. Add the year to 6676 to obtain the latitude. The year is NOT 1979. It is the earlier year. If there are not two dates on the stone marker, you are at the wrong one. The correct stone is skinny and tall and grayish colored. It is not short, fat, and rose colored. The latitude will be N38 1X.XXX. From the D.A.R. Stone Corral marker, drive north until you cross the bridge over the Little Arkansas. Immediately after you cross the bridge you will find a driveway and a trail on the north side of the river. PARK your vehicle and follow the path. It will take you to the Marker Cottonwood. Now find your cache. Happy caching! The cache is in a 50mm SASO-approved camo colored ammo can. Contents are the usual log book, cache paper, pens and pencils. First To Find prize is something that would have come in handy along the Trail. A can of "Whoop Ass", and if those fail, there's an ambulance. Trade goods are: a rosary, Christmas decoration, 2 Felix the Cat vinyl lapel pins, a small lock and key, leather film case, three prong outlet adapter, another puzzle that I never did figure out (good luck), a Tipton Cardinals Speech Festival medal, Barton Co. Cougars lanyard, Blessed Virgin Mary medallion, Sacaqawea gold dollar, Rich Mullins "Songs" CD, two copies of Ralph Hathaway's "From the Little Arkansas to the Big Arkansas, and some Santa Fe Trail maps. Also included are two travel bugs. This cache was placed in cooperation with the Rice County Historical Society and the Santa Fe Trail Association. Permission has been granted.
Additional Hints
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