The development of the Santa Fe Trail is a good idea. It passed through Barton and Pawnee County during the 1800s as a major wagon route to the west.
Twelve historic sites along the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas were nominated this month for the National Register of Historic Places.
It is the first of what is expected to be 40 sites in Kansas that  Santa Fe Trail historians are seeking for that designation.
This is nothing but good for the area. Often, we don’t appreciate what is in our own back yard.
Tourists or historians interested in the trail benefit this area economically.
We could do much more. Fort Zarah currently has not had much archeological study.
Some people enjoy seeing the wagon ruts are still visible near Pawnee Rock, which was one of the stopping points along the trail.
Local trail sites nominated for the National Register include:
•Boyd’s Ranch Site and the Pawnee Fork Crossing in Pawnee County. The site was along the Dry Route and was used by travelers headed to Fort Larned and by mail wagons and stagecoaches. In 1859, Boyd’s Ranch offered food and provisions and a wooden toll bridge for them to cross over the Pawnee River.
•Coon Creek Crossing and Fort Larned Military Road Segment, near Garfield in Pawnee County where the Wet Route of the trail crosses Coon Creek. The area includes cutdowns along the creek’s bank, the remnants of a dugout and trail swales.
The Dry Route is named as such because it was a route along the trail that provided few stops along the way for water.
History buffs would spend dollars for restaurants, lodging and gas, all of which would benefit the economy.