Over
150 years ago thousand of settlers and traders followed the trails established during the first part of the 19th
Century to establish homesteads in the West. After the purchase by Thomas Jefferson of
vast lands west of the Mississippi River from France the race to the west began. The
majority of the earliest users of the trails west were the traders who were establishing a lucrative trade in Santa Fe which
was still part of Mexico. These early traders loaded their wagons, pack mules and carts with manufactured
goods and started the trek to Santa Fe and returning to the US Territories with goods and gold from Santa Fe. Raytown has for many years been at the heart of several important locations related to the trails.
The Rice Plantation has long been listed as an important first stop for the travelers west who would leave Independence
and drive the 8 miles out the trail to camp while awaiting the grasses in the west to mature enough to support the oxen, mule
and horses with a food source on the long journey west. Adjoining the Rice Plantation
to the south was the land of Jesse Barnes and his family. Like the Rice’s, Jesse Barnes had brought
his family to this unsurveyed area in about 1839. They settled the lands, plowed the fields, built substantial
structures and were able to claim the land under pre-emption claim once the land was finally surveyed by the government in
1843.
In total,
the Barnes family purchased a total of 960 acres in 1844 and 1845 between the present day Streets of 71st (Gregory)
and the north and 83rd street on the south. Today this includes the William Kline Park at Cave
Spring.
Among the earliest references by travelers heading to Santa Fe was the diary of Susan Magoffin.
Susan Magoffin was the 19 year old bride of Captain Samuel Magoffin. She traveled down the Santa
Fe Trial with her husband who was 20 years her senior, on her honeymoon. She wrote of staying with the
Barnes Family in her diary: “Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico, 1846-1847”, she relates
that on Wednesday, 10th (June 1846) she left Independence between 3 and 4 for the residence of Mr. Barnes, a gentleman
some ten miles and procured a night’ lodging before her final departure for Santa Fe. Susan related
to Mrs. Barnes whose maiden name was “Hart”, that she knew the Hart family back in Kentucky and they tried to
determine if they were somehow related.
BROTHERS ON THE SANTA FE AND CHIHUAHUA TRAILS by Edward James Glasgow and William Henry Glasgow, 1846-1848
referenced in a letter to their sister Ellen:
Thursday
4 June, 1846
Santa Fe road 16 miles from Independence
“My Dear Ellen”
As James
and Gen has doubtless informed you long ago I left Independence last Saturday about 10 oclock with our Waggons 19 in number
& Mr Ferguson in company with his 4. The first day we got but 3 miles from town with half our waggons
the other half we left mired in devious and sundry mudholes strung along for a mile behind. On Sunday morng
we started and got on pretty well until dark overtook us at Mr Barnes's place 8 miles from town where we encamped and placed
our animals all in his pasture.”
In his book, OVERLAND TO CALIFORNIA by William G. Johnston several inferences
are given to various camps in the area. The William Johnston train had selected a site 8 miles out of Independence
at the edge of a scrub oak forest belonging to the plantation of a Mr. Rice. As it appeared to be a late
arriving Spring other camps were quickly established by other trains awaiting the Spring grasses. They
stayed 41 days encamped at the Rice Plantation.
Saturday,
March 24th it was noted: “Since beginning camp life, three gentlemen who camped near us
and another who subsequently joined them, have messed with us, but their party having still further increased they today set
up dining quarters for themselves.”
Saturday, March
25th—“A thick coating of ice was found this morning on the water bucket beside out tent door.
We visited some new neighbors today, encamped a short distance off.”
Monday, April 2nd—“I made a number of inquiries as to teamsters and discovered that scores
of them could be obtained, who were anxious to “roll out”, as is the common expression with reference to going
to California. At a boarding house by the roadside at which I halted, I found a number of Pittsburghers
preparing to emigrate, among them Messrs. Joseph C. McKibben, James B. Mitchell, A.W. Brockway, Harry Meyers, and Thomas Kennedy.”
Sunday, April15th—“Captains Maurky and Stewart, our
fellow travelers on the steamer Sacramento, and several others of their friends from Louisville, dined with us today, after
which they rode out to the Big Blue River, intending to for a camp there. Several of our party accompanied
them to assist in the selection of a site. On our way we stopped at the camp of Colonel Russell, and were
hospitably entertained by that gentlemen and others. Whilst there, Mr. Edwin Bryant, who had been at the
river selecting ground for his company, rode up, and with him and Dr. Clinton I returned to camp , where I found Messrs. Mitchell
and Kennedy, who were paying us a visit.”
Monday, April
16th—“We are completely surrounded by camps of emigrants, and tonight another large party from Steubenville
has been added.”
Friday, April 27th—the party had spent several hour shelling
corn in Mr. Rice’s barn. When they finished that job they harnessed the mules and made a trial trip—“a
few miles down the road, and then back to camp, was sufficient exercise for the day” This would have
taken them into the Barnes Enclosure.
The Diary of
Edward J. Willis, giving account of travel from Independence Missouri to California in 1849 –ACROSS THE PLAINS:
Thursday, May 3rd—Camp No. 2—“Left our camp at Mr. Ralston’s this morning
8 oclock. Cloudy. Traveled on pretty well until we passed Independence…..stalled
at a steep hill and was helped out by a company from Indiana with oxen. Started again after getting on
prairie……helped out again by a twelve ox team though not without difficulty……Traveled 9 miles
from Independence to a convenient place for a camp.
Sidney J. Barnes—Santa Fe Trader Sidney
J. Barnes, son of Jesse Barnes, and the grantor of various sections of land from his father
was an early trader down the Santa Fe Trail. From the book by Louise
Barry, Beginning of the West Annals of the Kansas Gateway to American West 1540-1854, page
639 “August 17, 1846 Messrs (Sidney and Clifton) Barnes and Allen with 31 Government
wagons and 43 men, bound for
Santa Fe, were at Cow Creek on this day.” (Returning trader Norris Colburn met them) Lt. W. Alert (at Bent’s Fort) apparently referred to the Barnes
and Allen train when he wrote on September 7, 1846, “This evening a part of teamsters arrived, they seemed to be very
insubordinate, and refused to go on to Santa Fe”. In
1847 Sidney Barnes married Marion Noland. Her father Edward T. Noland and Sidney began to purchase many
acres of land in the Hickman Mills area (now between 107th Street and 123rd Street).
These many parcels of land would be used for security for loans to purchase goods or otherwise pay for drivers and
supplies needed for their trips down the Santa Fe Trail.
Colonel
Grant---A Man of Mystery
It appears that Jesse Barnes moved to the home of one of his sons, Sidney, and leased out his farm to a Colonel
Grant who operated the home as a Tavern. It is not know, but possible, that Colonel Grant was known by
Jesse Barnes from his days in Kentucky prior to coming to Missouri.
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING REFERENCES
IN JOURNALS AND DIARIES ARE DURING THE TIME OF JESSE BARNES OWNERSHIP AND COLONEL GRANTS LEASE OF THE ENCLOSURE. 1849—David McCullum stayed at Colonel Grants, 9 miles out. David was an attorney
from Michigan and (as a member of the Turner & Allen Pioneer Line), spent two weeks suffering from Bilious fever at Colonel
Grants. “Was well taken care of—paid $5 dollars doctor bill and $2 per week for board and trouble”.
1849—Thomas N.
Eastin Journal. From Henderon County, Kentucky. “Arrived at Colonel Grant’s, 9 miles from Independence,
on May 5th for an overnight stay.”
1849—James
Lyne’s letter of May 4, 1849, from Henderon County, Kentucky same company as Thomas N. Eastin
1850—Journal
of Edmund Cavileer Hinde. “On April 25th camped 9 miles from Independence on Santa Fee
Road in sight of Colonel Grants residence.”
1850—George Willis Read—“A Pioneer of 1850—Camped for two weeks at
Colonel Grants, 9 miles south of the town of Independence, a fine old Kentuckian.”
1850—Journal
of Captain James A. Payne—“Encamped one mile south of Independence, and on May 2nd, travelled about
8 miles and put up at a tavern.”
1850—Diary of Samuel M. Jamison, “Arrived at Colonel Grant’s (Barnes residence)
on April 24, in company with Tanagarman and Green County (PA) Company.
In 1851 Colonel Grant had purchased lands in the area of Hickman Mills. The following diaries
of 1853 occurred during the continued ownership by Jesse Barnes.
1853—Calvin
H. Graham Journal of 1853—“Encampment seven miles this side of the Big Blue at a pretty ground and a spring close
by. (This is nine miles from Independence). Crossed 3 or 4 streams or runs enroute from the town of Independence
April 30th.”
1853—Diary of Seth Stoughton.
“Arrived Saturday, April 30th, a pretty close by a spring 7 miles to the Big Blue River.”
The will of Jesse Barnes who died in 1852 is still in Probate Court in 1853 and it was settled
by October of 1855.
From
a letter dated November 5, 1906 and written by W.H. Brady to his old friend Mr. Newt Ainsworth upon hearing about the unveiling
of the Old Santa Fe Trail marker at Lone Elm:
“I first saw Lone Elm camp ground in 1854 as
I came back from looking at the country in Douglas County. The old tree was laying on the ground, the greater
part of it had been burned up. I remember seeing a way bill for emigrants to California, starting from
Independence, Missouri. The first point was Barnes Spring, Big Blue, State line, or New Santa Fe, which
is north of Stanley now.”
· Barnes Enclosure was definitely
on the Santa Fe, California and Oregon Trails
·
Susan Magoffin and her party stayed at the Barnes home on Wednesday, June 10, 1846 per her personal diary
· The
Glasgow brothers mention camping at the Barnes Enclosure on June 4, 1846 in a letter to their sister
· Other diaries refer
to the campgrounds of wagon trains a "short distance" from the Rice Plantation which would place them in the proximity
of the Barnes Enclosure
·
As the tavern of Colonel Grant many traveler's mention it in the diaries
· The DAR marked the
"Cave Spring" site as being on the trails in 1909
In
the succeeding years the land changed hands many times. During the late 1920's until the late 1950's the
area was a recreation area complete with family cabin's, golf course and fishing lake. On August 10, 1978
Cave Spring was officially listed on The National Register of Historic Places. Today it is the site of the William
Klein Park and Cave Spring Nature Center. A research center has been established at the site and contains
one of the largest collection of copies of the many diaries of travel down the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails.
