|
Kansas Heritage | the
Interactive Santa Fe Trail |
Pawnee Rock, Kansas
(The following was written by Jamie Jensen (Roadsides@aol.com) for the Kansas
section of his Route 50 information in
Moon Publications Road Trip USA,
and linked here for use with the
Interactive Santa Fe Trail. Jamie is planning to add a feature on the SF
Trail, with a map of the entire route in the future, which we plan to
also link here.)
Pawnee Rock, Kansas
Just eight miles northeast of Larned, a half-mile north of US-56 and
the Arkansas River, Pawnee Rock was once one of the most important
landmarks on the Santa
Fe Trail. However, so much of the
original 60 foot-high tower of Dakota sandstone has been quarried--to build
houses as well as the roadbed of the Santa Fe railroad--that it's
little more than a stubby hump. But you can still get a grand view of
the surrounding countryside from the easy trail that leads to the
rock's much-diminished summit.