By DENA WEIGEL BELL
WaKeeney Travel Blog
Summer vacation is here and it’s time to hit the road and explore the beautiful Great Plains of Western Kansas!
There are many wonderful places to visit in Trego County—the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway, Cedar Bluff State Park, and Downtown WaKeeney—but did you know when you travel across Trego County to see these great places you are actually traveling on historic landmarks, too?
Smoky Hill Trail
When the very first travelers began crossing the Great Plains they were mostly on their own. No maps, no guidebooks, no hint of where the next turn would take them. Word-of-mouth was their guide in those days, and the unmapped, 500-mile route they typically followed was called the Smoky Hill Trail. It was fraught with danger. Word of deadly animal encounters, dehydration, and hostile native people protecting their land soon gave the route a bad reputation and people traveling west determined a longer, northern route was a better option.
The Butterfield Overland Trail
Seeing opportunity in the increasing desire to “Go West,” an entrepreneur from Atchison, KS named David A. Butterfield set out to establish a faster route to Denver. He mapped a route across the Great Plains in 1865 and built several “home stations” along the route (Trego County claims six of those stations; Bluffton, Stormy Hollow Station, White Rock Station, Downer Station, Ruthton Station and Castle Rock Creek Station). Soon he was advertising passage on his Butterfield Overland Despatch (BOD) stagecoach for $175 a person and fifty-cents to a dollar for a meal.
Trego County claims a 21-mile stretch of what was billed as the “fastest route to the Colorado goldmines,” and modern-day historians can visit commemorative guideposts placed along the trail’s route in the 1960s at points where today’s north/south roads intersect the BOD trail. The guideposts extend beyond our county’s borders from Ellsworth, KS, to the state line, providing modern-day adventurers the opportunity to follow in the path the early pioneers took across our state, with the exception of the first 63-miles.
US Highway 40
For those who love easy drives along scenic country roads, consider taking the road less traveled and turn your car down US Highway 40.
The once paved road was once the main artery between Ogallah, WaKeeney, and Collyer, Trego County’s largest towns. Now, it provides travelers an opportunity to slow down and enjoy the sights, surrounded by shade trees in some spots and wide open landscape in others.
Built in 1926, Highway 40’s route roughly followed the same course as the Butterfield Overland Despatch Trail. Its construction marked a seminal moment in history for travel across America when larger, more reliable cars allowed more people to hit the road than ever before, and transcontinental movement was more accessible to everyone.
During America’s “Golden Age of Automobiling” in the 1950’s, Highway 40 carried more traffic than any other transcontinental highway in the United States, even gaining recognition as a Blue Star Memorial Highway in 1951.
Interstate 70
Today, the road most traveled is Interstate 70, a road first envisioned on the battlefield of World War II.
During his time leading the troops in Europe, Kansas native President Dwight D. Eisenhower saw the value of an interconnecting, paved road that could support military movements, trade, and public transportation needs. He commissioned his teams to map the fastest and most easily conversed routes possible and they found the Great Plains’ landscape fit the requirements perfectly. In 1956 construction began on “the Main Street of Kansas,” and ever since it’s played a huge role in our county’s communities.
Stop by Eisenhower Park at WaKeeney’s West Exit #127 to enjoy our monument to the president who brought American travelers to our city’s front door.
Enjoy the Journey, and the Destination
People say that it’s not only the destination, but also the journey that makes a trip worthwhile, and those words ring true when traveling over the historic roads of Trego County. You will find that whichever route you choose you’ll be riding in the footsteps of people who helped develop this great nation over the last 150-years.
This summer set out on a trip through time to explore the historic roads of Trego County!