The Barton County Historical Society and the Quivira Chapter Santa Fe Trail Association, in a joint meeting, will host Britt and Linda Colle for the June program at 7 p.m., Monday, June 24, in the Ray Schulz Research Library at the historical society, 85 South U.S. 281, Great Bend. Admission is $5 for non-members, while members and those under 16 are free. Memberships may be purchased at the door that night.

The Santa Fe National Historic Trail was a trail of commerce moving trade goods between the United States and Mexico from 1821 to 1880. The largest portion of the Trail was in Kansas. The Santa Fe Trail Association preserves and protects this international highway, and educates the public about it. Ninety miles of the Trail are in the Quivira Chapter, which covers McPherson, Rice, and Barton counties in Kansas. There are many Trail-related sites within the Quivira Chapter with visible evidence from the days when the Trail was active.

Join Linda and Britt Colle as they describe some of these sites and their Trail history.

Linda and Britt Colle are charter members of the Santa Fe Trail Association and the Quivira Chapter. Linda has been president of the chapter since 2006 and serves on the Santa Fe Trail Association Board of Directors. Britt is on the Board of Directors for the Quivira Chapter and serves as the Santa Fe Trail Representative for the Partnership of the National Trails System.