Interesting "Trail Facts" From the Kansas City, Missouri Region

The ill-fated Donner Party left from Independence, MO in 1846 for California.

Of the more than 250,000 emigrants to California during the decade of the gold rush, only 5,000 were African-American.

The trading route of the Santa Fe Trail was used as a military route during the Mexican War, 1846-48.

Noted mountain man Jim Bridger lived and died in present-day south Kansas City and is buried in Independence, MO.

The explosion of the steamboat “Saluda” at Lexington, MO in 1852 killed many Mormon emigrants bound for Salt Lake City.

The first white women to cross North America, Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding, left from Liberty, MO in 1836 with their husbands.

The first railroad west of the Mississippi River linked Independence, MO with its steamboat landing.

Capt. John Sutter lived at Westport, MO before fleeing from creditors and going to California, where his mill and name forever became attached to the 1848 gold discovery.

The languages heard along the culturally diverse Santa Fe Trail included English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and those of several American Indian tribes.

An estimated 400,000 people went on the western migration trails between 1840 and 1860.

Hiram Young was a prominent African-American blacksmith in Independence, MO who bought slaves to work in his wagon shops and let them earn their freedom.

Sapling Grove Park in Overland Park, KS was the starting point for the first overland wagon train to California.

“Kelly’s”, today a popular bar in Westport, MO, was an outfitting store during the trail days.

About one in ten trail travelers, or about 40,000 people, died along the western trails in America.

Alexander Majors, whose home is open for tours in Kansas City, was an important frontier freighter.

Mayor Tyree of Independence went west on the trails and was reportedly never heard of again.

The Bent-Ward House in Kansas City was home to two important figures on the frontier, William Bent and Seth Ward.

Unlike the Hollywood film versions, very few deaths on the overland trails were related to Indian hostilities.

Mr. Ray’s blacksmith shop on the trail was the start of Raytown, MO.

Major John Dougherty, later of Liberty, MO, was an early fur trader and Indian agent.

The natural springs at Blue Springs, MO were used by Indians, then early Santa Fe Trail traders.