Santa Fe Trail - Plum Buttes Multi-Cache
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Santa Fe Trail - Plum Buttes
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You are looking for a small SASO-approved camo colored ammo can. There are two stages to this cache. The first is at the Cow Creek Crossing cache at the above coordinates. The second is at the Ralph's Ruts cache (38 21.513N, 98 25.289W). One part of the Plum Buttes coordinates are written inside the lids of the ammo cans at the two caches.
Plum Buttes was an important landmark for travelers of the Santa Fe Trail; they could be seen immediately after crossing Cow Creek. In all this distance, as with much of the plains, there was not a single tree to obstruct the view. Ralph Hathaway's (Ralph's Ruts) father, who was born on the Hathaway farm near here in 1882, told Ralph that the Buttes, although reduced in size, were still quite prominent when he was a boy. One in particular was easily seen when looking westward. At that time, the buttes were sand hills as high as 80 feet, with plum bushes growing at their base. This was usually a noon stop for travelers on the trail, with their evening stop at the Big Bend in the Arkansas River, which is now located at the west edge of Ellinwood in Barton County. Ultimately they were destroyed by the same force that built them, the Kansas wind. Remaining is the wide notch, known as "Gunsight Notch", in the Ringwald pasture, a very impressive sight to trail buffs to see and marvel at. It was at this point that the wagons crossed the Buttes. Like Pawnee Rock in Barton County, one can only see what Plum Buttes might have been in one's mind. From Plum Buttes the Trail appears to have gone almost due west for about five miles before angling toward the river campsite. It is best to approach this cache from the east so you can get an excellent view of the notch, and several deep ruts in the Ringwald pasture. The cache contains the usual log book, pens and pencils, and geocache page. I forget what I put in as FTF prize, but it's a nice prize. And there's swag for all ages. Have fun, and thanks for traveling the trail in Rice County. This cache was placed in cooperation with the Santa Fe Trail Assn., and the Rice County Historical Society.
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